On 13 May 2014, the voter awareness campaign for special elections of the President of Ukraine, scheduled for 25 May 2014 was presented by the Civil Network OPORA and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.
During the presentation, attendees have learned about how voter awareness can be raised, so that they knew their electoral rights, mechanisms of their realization and protection, election procedures, and possibilities of participation in the electoral process.
Olha Aivazovska, Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA, have stated: "The number of new unexperienced commission members has raised in comparison to 2012, even in district election commissions. In 2012, almost 97% of commission members created after April 14 have already had the relevant experience. Today, the number of experienced members is 30% less. Thus, we understand how information and training production is important, no matter how little time has left to the voting day. However, we suppose that there will be the second round, and production prepared by the Civil Network OPORA and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, with the support of OSCE Office Coordinator and other international organizations, will be useful."
The information campaign is called to raise voter awareness about the possibility of participation in the election process (as a commission member or observer also), and opportunities of receiving the necessary knowledge and experience through the on-line training system for members of election commissions "VYBORKOM", "Elections in Ukraine", and other resources.
Electoral Programs Manager of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine Andrii Lynnyk told that voters can learn about their voting rights on training webinars for the voters, website "Elections in Ukraine", or receive a consultation at hotline of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine. He has also presented a section "FOR THE VOTER" on the abovementioned site, which was created to help the voters participate in elections of the President of Ukraine and local elections, and contains information about the temporary change of voting place, updating of voter lists, voting at home, voting procedure, voting secrecy etc.
Besides that, the voters were presented possibilities to actively participate in the election process as a commission member or an observer, and register online in sections "I AM COMMISSION MEMBER" and "I AM OBSERVER". Online training system for election commission members "VYBORKOM" was also presented http://electioninfo.org.ua/.
"Hotline" — free legal consulting for the voters, commission members, and observers; consultations on how to use the system "Vyborkom".
(044) 425-21-66, 425-23-01, 425-37-20
+38 (050) 469-21-64
+38 (067) 100-48-12
Working schedule: Monday-Friday, 9am—6pm. On 24 and 25 May (Election Day); 14 and 15 June (election day in case of the second round of voting): 9am—9pm.
LIST OF USEFUL RESOURCES
Online training system for members of election commissions "VYBORKOM" http://www.vyborkom.org/;
Internet resources of the Civil Network OPORA
http://oporaua.org – official site of the organization
TV program "Before You Vote" – joint project of the OPORA and the Hromadske TV.
http://oporaua.org/news/4982-programa-pered-vyborom-vid-4-travnja-2014-roku
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLPnX89fQLdsmG88yIlsBT1u7vsJLHOzxZ&v=h-7G_CiJlug
Online resources of the AUNGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine
http://cvu.org.ua – official site of the organization
http://electioninfo.org.ua – site "Elections in Ukraine" (news, awareness, analytics)
http://map.cvu.org.ua – "2014 Map of Violations" (to report about a violation)
http://administr-law.org.ua – "Protect your rights!" (rights protection; free consultations)
The awareness campaign is conducted within the Project "Building capacity in electoral trainings and raising voter awareness", implemented by the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine, supported by the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.