Forms serve a vital control function in voting operations. While every effort should be made to keep the number of forms required to the minimum necessary, there will always be a significant number of voting operations forms, due to:
• the highly accountable nature of many voting operations actions, and the need to be able to demonstrate, possibly in response to a challenge to the election, the exact nature of actions taken;
• the need to record the vast amount of information associated with voting events in a standard manner, to enable consistent decision-making and to protect election integrity.
Reviews
Forms are a necessary but obtrusive part of voting operations accountability mechanisms. It is important that voting operations management undertakes regular reviews of the numbers of forms and their content, to determine how much of the information being collected is:
• required by legislation;
• needed to ensure election accountability and transparency;
• used for effective current management of voting operations;
• may be useful to look at sometime;
• information whose purpose can't be immediately ascertained.
The last three categories should be closely scrutinized to determine which forms and information items collected:
• are really required as a formal record;
• have been overtaken by current practices and need revision;
• would be equally useable if merely noted or reported informally;
• have no discernible purpose.
Information being collected for no discernible purpose, especially, is a waste of valuable voting operations resources.
Forms for Internal Use
Avoid overloading voting operations staff with an excessive number of data collection, supplies tracking, and monitoring forms to complete. Voting operations staff will already be under pressure, and adding to that with requests for non-essential information or multiple requests for the same information from different management areas of the electoral management body, will not assist their performance.
Too many or too complex a system of required forms will lead to errors in completion, and, at worst, failure to respond to essential data requests that have been buried in a mass of other information requests. Try and keep forms simple but in a way that they are able to capture the necessary information.
Language
Forms may need to be produced in more than one language in societies with different official language groups or significant minority language groups.
To simplify supply, it is preferable for multi-lingual forms to be produced, rather than separate forms for each language. The time needed for effective translations needs to be considered in designing form and supply timetables.
Design Principles
The most effective forms are those that are easy to understand and to complete. Some principles that can be considered in designing voting operations forms include:
• use ordinary language, not legalese. Only a very small proportion of people who use voting operations forms will be lawyers.
• clear instructions for completing the form. Instructions are generally better as an integrated design element of the form, rather than as an add-on.
• all required information about the respondent (name, address, etc.) that can be identified clearly.
• information in a logical flow, using grouping of information requests where this is useful.
• clear spaces between individual information requests. Trying to put too much on to a single sheet is not efficient; it just makes understanding the form more difficult.
• areas in which responses are to be written are clearly delineated and sufficient room is provided for possible responses.
• a checklist on the form where there are standard administrative processes to be applied as a result of responses to a form. These administrative action checklists should be clearly separated from the information gathering section of the form.
• an indication on the form o how the information will be used. In countries with privacy protection legislation, this may be mandatory.
• as long as the intent of questions remains clear, and different sections are clearly delineated, collecting different types of data on the one form (instead of providing multiple forms) can be effective.
• collecting data only once, as far as possible. Multiple forms requesting the same information become a nuisance and may hinder correct completion of the requested data.
Other Distribution
Examples of relevant forms are usefully included with voting officials manuals, with their use being explained, if possible by simulations, during training.
In the interests of transparency it is also useful to make reasonable quantities of voting operations form samples available to political participants and other interested citizens.
Domiciling
Using laser or ink jet printing facilities can be effective to pre-print electoral district and voting station information, name or code number and electoral district/voting subdivision directly onto forms.
However a judgment has to be made as to whether this assistance to voting officials and assurance that all material is domiciled is outweighed by any added costs and complications in quality control for packaging and distribution of voting station material.
Forms Control
The amount of data that may need to be recorded on forms for voting operations can be immense. The forms listing examples at Election Forms Control Inventory give some idea of the number of forms that may need to be designed, produced, and completed.
Controlling form design and production is a major task in itself and requires adequate resourcing. Rigorously enforced systems of standard form numbers and revision and version control are necessary to maintain controls on voting operations forms numbers and content.
The following listing does not attempt to note all forms that will or can be used for voting operations, but it highlights the areas where standard recording or provision of information on forms, or their electronic equivalents, is likely to be necessary.
Nominations
• formal notices of nominations period
• nominations forms and any attachments
• rejection or acceptance of nomination.
• withdrawal of nomination
• declaration of accepted nominations
• ballot order determination
• appointment of party/candidate representatives
• campaign expense and contribution reports
Materials Control
• contract/purchasing documentation
• labels or pre-printed envelopes for despatch and return of voting station materials
• inventories, supplies receipts, and delivery schedules
• loss and destruction notices.
Staffing and Training
• information pamphlets for prospective staff
• offers of recruitment, suitability assessments, and contracts/appointments
• training schedules, advisory notices and assessments.
• undertakings to abide by codes of conduct/maintain voting secrecy
• staff identification badges
• records of staff attendance and payment records
Voting Site Management
•premises and security assessments
• determination and notification of voting locations
• voting hours notifications
• ballot paper issue, accounting, and reconciliation records
• boting station notices - voter flow signage, prohibitions on voter behaviour (no smoking, no firearms, and the like)
• instructions to voting officials
• instructions to voters
• voter information posters and pamphlets
• ballot envelopes for enveloped ballot system
• spoilt and cancelled ballot envelopes
• adjournment of voting
• summary of voters not on the voters list
• voting day voter registrations
• supervisors checklists
• voting station managers reports--could be a series of separate forms covering all aspects of ballot accounting, voting activity, staff and premise management, or a voting record booklet
Count Recording and Results
• notification of counting times and venues
• reconciliations and movements of voting materials to and from counts (
• counting records, summaries, and reconciliations
• determination and declaration of results
Counting total and result compilation forms must be designed to show all the calculations necessary for a result to be declared; leave nothing to back-of-an-envelope, non-transparent, invisible-to-observers calculations. Results slips, protocols, or minutes should not contain any pre-printed numbers in count columns (e.g., "1" in the thousands column against candidates expected to receive a large proportion of the vote).
Special Voting
Included here are absentee, early, and mail voting, as well as voters requiring assistance:
• information posters and pamphlets for voters
• application for a ballot paper
• instructions for completing the vote
• ballot envelopes and outer envelopes
• records and reconciliations of ballots issued
• reports by managers of special voting locations. This could be a series of separate forms covering all aspects of ballot accounting, voting activity, staff and premise management, or a voting record booklet
Challenges
• statements of challenges
• requests for recounts
• investigation reports.
Accreditation for Observers and Party Representatives
• applications for accreditation or appointments as representatives
• identification badges
• statements of acceptance of code of conduct
Voter Follow-Up
- voter fraud statements and investigation reports
- voter registration confirmations and inquiries (in continuous registration systems)
- Compulsory voting inquiries, responses, investigation records, and summaries (in compulsory voting systems)
