Influence of voter education approaches on elections outcome in Isiolo north constituency of Isiolo county, Kenya
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of voter education
approaches on elections outcome in Isiolo North Constituency, Isiolo County, Kenya. It
focused on study objectives which sought to establish whether the voter education
content, training of voter education providers, methods used and time in provision of
voter education would influence elections outcome. The study evaluated the works of
various authors and personalities on voter education with highlights on the historical
perspectives worldwide and traced its implication in management of democratic
elections. The study adopted descriptive survey design to get information from the
respondents. Data collection was made using questionnaires which were then
administered to Election Administrators, Members of County Assembly, and Political
Party representatives, Civil Society Groups and Faith- Based Organizations in Isiolo
North Constituency, Isiolo County, Kenya with a target population of 80 respondents.
The sample size of the study was 33 with all the categories of respondents, representing
41.3% of the population. The sampling procedure adopted in the study was stratified and
simple random sampling. The data gathered were analyzed by means of Statistical
Package of Social Science (SPSS)software system and presented using descriptive
statistics in form of frequency tables and percentages. A total of 33 questionnaires were
distributed to the sample population of the study and 29 (88.88%) participated and
returned the questionnaires, while 4 participants which was (11.12%) did not respond to
the questionnaires. Fisher‟s Exact Test of significant was used to measure statistical
dependence between variables for each objective. The study findings revealed that voter
education content had the highest influence with a correlation of 52.5%, followed by
training of voter education providers at correlation of 28.9%, then methods used for
providing voter education was at 25.6%, while time had the least influence with a
correlation of 15.9% on Elections outcome .Despite the fact that training of voter
education providers, methods used and time in provision of voter education were noted
insignificant, they were indispensible. The study came up with various recommendations
which included: the electoral management body IEBC to review voter education contents
and messages with specified electoral events so as to maintain relevancy in the
circumstances, proper training of voter educators and coordinated engagement with civil
society groups and other partners should be encouraged in order to enhance collaborative
efforts in providing timely voter education to the general public.
Publisher
University of Nairobi