Cost-effectiveness – providing an effective service for the lowest possible cost – is the major yardstick for sustainability, rather than purely lowest cost. Savings cannot compromise the basic requirements of legitimate elections. A particular measure to reduce electoral costs may work well in one country but not in another because of differing legal, political, and socio-economic circumstances. Although the practice of having a single-member EMB is a useful cost-saving measure, in India it was rebuffed by the Supreme Court as not conducive to fair decision making, thus paving the way for the appointment of a three-member EMB in 1995. It is not therefore possible to prescribe commonly applicable sustainability solutions, only general principles.

EMB core budgets may be reduced by rationalising structures, for example the number of EMB members or secretariat positions. The EMBs in Cambodia and South Africa undertook rationalization exercises during 1999 and 2002, respectively. The maintenance of only a small core of permanent staff, backed by well-trained temporary field staff, can reduce costs, while maintaining efficiency. For smaller EMBs, that of Fiji shows that core election staff can be kept to a minimum and remain functional. However, the loss of experienced staff can have a very negative effect on the EMB’s performance. Finding a successful balance is not easy.

Significant budgetary savings can be achieved in Governmental Model EMBs or other model EMBs where public servants or volunteers can be co-opted to serve with the EMB during an election period. While assisting financial sustainability, this type of staffing profile can also have a negative effect on the performance of and public trust in the EMB, and thus the political sustainability of the electoral process. EMB membership and staffing structures and costs are a significant issue in developing a viable strategy to sustain the delivery of free and fair elections. There are management tools, such as task profiling, that the EMB can use to determine the minimum staff numbers it needs to perform its functions. The EMB would then be required to justify the employment of additional staff on efficiency or effectiveness grounds.Significant cost savings can be achieved by holding elections for all levels of representation on the one day. However the marked political effects of having either simultaneous or staggered elections means that political sustainability arguments may outweigh financial ones.