EMBs use various methods for recruiting secretariat staff. Governmental EMBs and other EMBs that rely on public service staff may not be free to implement their own recruiting practices. In Indonesia, the EMB may have to take whatever secretariat staff are allocated to it by the civil service. In some countries, public service staff rotation policies are seen as an anti-corruption mechanism, which can help prevent a unit from becoming dominated by corrupt officials. Yet rotating staff may compromise institutional memory, and the skills accumulated by honest officials can be lost.
Good practice is to hold an open selection process, as in Georgia, advertising widely for candidates and clearly specifying the skills, qualifications and personal attributes required for each position to be filled. This is possible even where EMB staff are public servants, as the Australian example shows. It is more difficult where governmental EMB secretariats have part-time or fixed-period electoral tasks, and electoral skills may not be prominent in the profile required of staff, or where public service recruitment practices require prioritization of generic selection criteria rather than specialized technical skills.
Since EMBs must set an example of acting equitably, they need to implement recruitment and staffing policies that are conducive to gender balance in EMB staff and that promote the employment of women. Women and men need to be afforded equal opportunities for employment, training, promotion and benefits for all permanent and temporary EMB positions. This may require the EMB to introduce gender-sensitive employment practices and training. Enforceable requirements to appoint women to electoral management positions, from EMB membership through all levels of the organization to polling station staff, may assist in this regard. In Timor-Leste, for example, the law provides that at least three women, in addition to a representative of women’s organizations, must be appointed to the National Commission on Elections. Some customary traditions, such as separate polling stations for women and men, may affect the details of implementing gender balance.
The implementation of gender balance in an established EMB permanent secretariat may take time and involve the careful consideration of policies for filling vacancies. While this constraint does not apply when a new EMB secretariat is being established, the issue of gender balance may be lost in the hurry to find suitable people when recruiting for all levels of a complete EMB secretariat at one time — a lesson identified in retrospect in South Africa.
Some countries use political parties to help identify suitable EMB secretariat staff. In the USA, it is common for party nominees to participate in election administration, especially at the local or county levels.
One of the biggest recruitment tasks is finding short-term electoral staff, particularly polling station staff. In Hungary, local governments recruit polling station staff. Other avenues for recruiting temporary polling station staff include corporations and voluntary organizations.
One of the key choices that any EMB faces is whether, when recruiting polling station staff, to favour those with previous electoral experience or to conduct a more open recruitment process for each event. Having experienced and effective staff can help to ensure the smooth conduct of polling, but a systematic staff evaluation process needs to be put in place to ensure that less competent staff are not employed election after election merely on the strength of having done the job before. A more open recruitment process can help increase the number of people that have worked on elections, and involve a more representative cross- section of the community in election work. In South Africa, the EMB has been notably successful in efforts to engage women, young people and the unemployed to serve as polling officials.
As Internet use increases worldwide, online recruitment and staff management systems will increasingly be an option for EMBs to consider. In Australia, the EMB uses such systems extensively to recruit and train polling staff.
In Uruguay, any civil servant may be compelled to undertake election work; in Mexico and Spain, this compulsion may extend to any voter. In Mexico, the electoral law requires the EMB to conduct a multiple-stage process, including a lottery of all eligible citizens, to make an initial selection of temporary staff for polling stations. Those selected are trained, after which a final selection is made, and staff are allocated to specific roles at polling stations.
Screening candidates for permanent or temporary EMB staff appointment is a necessary component of the recruitment and appointment process, which enhances its transparency. This process aims to ensure that staff have the specified qualifications, are of good character, and are not likely to be politically active or otherwise unsuitable. It is best kept simple, quick and under the control of the EMB rather than political parties (as in the USA) or other organizations. As the number of temporary polling staff at most elections will vastly exceed the number of EMB staff managing the recruitment process, screening and recruitment should not be left to the last minute. Contingency plans for responding to staff drop-outs (even on polling day) are also needed.
