Voter Registration Cards, Political Subjectivity, and Trust in Paper in the Gambia

Abstract

This article examines the voter registration card and the social context of voter registrations in the Gambia, West Africa. Drawing on recent ethnographies of documents and using data on worries over foreigners’ efforts to fraudulently obtain voter registration cards, a public information campaign on the Gambian electoral process, international legal material on the Gambian democracy, and observations at voter registration stations, the article argues that the voter registration card delineates not only a national subject but also a generic political subject. This subject is characterized by a commitment to a bureaucratic process and an appreciation of the card as an official identification document inseparable from the person it identifies. The article also considers how the voter registration process allows Gambians to compare their experiences to citizens of other countries. In a political context of an authoritarian government and a weak rule of law, this comparison offers an ideal of a modern democratic state that both enables criticism of the Gambia’s present situation and confirms the centrality of a generic political subject to the realization of that ideal.

Naturalization in African states: its past and potential future

“…Perhaps most importantly, as African states opened up to more competitive multiparty elections from the 1990s, voter registration came to be the way in which citizens were recognised for the most symbolic practical purpose. The role of party membership or voter registration cards as markers of membership and proof of identity has been noted for many years -especially, but not only, in those countries which have not historically had an identity card (Malkki 1995;Hultin 2008); as new technology has been introduced, this power has, if anything, increased (Cheeseman, Lynch, and Willis 2018;Piccolino 2014;Rader 2016).…”

Anticipatory tribalism: accusatory politics in the ‘New Gambia’

“…In the lead-up to the 2001 election, as well as subsequent ones, there were frequent allegations that Jammeh encouraged Jola from Senegal's restive Casamance region to vote illegally in The Gambia, on the presumption that they would support Jammeh and the APRC. It is almost certainly the case that such ballot stuffing took place, but it is less certain that it had any noticeable impact on the results (Saine 2008; Perfect & Hughes 2013; see also Hultin 2008, on the persistent rumours of Senegalese Jola interference in The Gambia's electoral process). The worries over Jammeh using his Jola ethnicity to cement his rule were compounded by the seeming privileging of Jola in appointments to key positions in the security services (Dwyer 2017).…”