The Election Administration is discussing the results of the "Talking to Voters" initiative. The project had been designed by a working group formed under the CEC Chair order and it was made up of the leadership of the CEC structural units. The goal of this initiative was raising voter awareness around 2017 Elections, enhancing communication between the Election Administration and voters, and improving services available for voters.

CEC leadership and working group members are holding series of meetings with members of District Election Commissions (DECs) implementing the Project, discuss lessons learned and opinions expressed up by voters as part of the project.

“The Election Administration has implemented a very important initiative. We, together with DECs, went village to village, met with people, holding up to 450 meetings in municipalities as well as in villages. Along with hearing the opinions of voters about self-government elections, we also provided to them exhaustive information about Election Administration and today we are taking stock of the results of meetings with the citizens. We have significant results – firstly, in the area of raising voter awareness, and secondly, in the area of effective communication, relations and closer interaction with voters” – CEC Chair has stated.

As part of the Project, at the first stage, DEC members and volunteers held awareness raising meetings with voters at municipal centers and public gathering areas in villages. They distributed to voters leaflets about local elections and talked to them about their electoral rights. Citizens were able to state their opinion about the services offered by the Election Administration and their needs in voters’ opinion paper.

Moreover, public meetings – "Voters’ Day" were held at DECs. DEC representatives briefed interested individuals who came to meetings about the importance of local self-government elections, activities of the Election Administration and services offered to voters.

The Project was implemented during April 24 –May 31, in municipal centers and villages throughout Georgia, and 340 district election commission members and 491 volunteers participated in it. A total of 450 meetings were held in 73 election districts.

At this stage, Project results have been discussed with DEC chairs and secretaries, in Borjomi. Meetings around the above-mentioned initiative are also planned with the representatives of Tbilisi and West Georgia district election commissions.