Logistics

Logistics planning is the essential support functioning for ensuring that equipment, staff, and communications methods are in place in time for the successful conduct of voting.

Logistics planning has to be flexible and thorough in its consideration of possible contingency arrangements. Logistics has to ensure delivery from suppliers to meet an election calendar that stipulates  unalterable dates.

Effective distribution of materials and equipment requires:

• detailed planning of delivery and retrieval schedules, methods of transport to be used and shipping routes
• efficient means of splitting bulk deliveries of supplies into separate shipments for each voting location, avoiding wastage, yet ensuring that all voting stations have sufficient supplies to service the voters
• adequate security for the specific environment
• storage appropriate for maintaining stocks for election materials and equipment in good condition
• comprehensive tracking of the movements of all election materials and equipment as they go through the distribution and return chain

Both accountability and probity considerations, as well as operational needs to be informed initially about the state of readiness for voting, and later of the successful retrieval of supplies, are served by carefully tracking all shipping and distribution of supplies.

Transportation may be required for voting station officials to attend and return from their voting stations. These may be officials who need to be mobile due to  the nature of their duties, such as those assigned to mobile voting stations or as roving voting station supervisors. They may be staff from normal voting stations who, due to the unavailablitly of other reliable transportation services, considerations of personal safety or remoteness of their assigned station, would not otherwise be able to attend to their duties.

The extent and intensity of communications during the election period requires that a through assessment be made of communication needs. Apart from the heightened flow of information within the electoral management body's offices and the need to provide facilities for  communication with voters, political parties, security forces, and other government agencies, there will be a large number of dispersed voting sites that will need to be in communication with electoral district managers' offices.

Effective communications methods for these voting station will need to take account of voting stations' communications requirements-for security, procedural advice, progress reporting and (where relevant) count results- in relation to the  available communications infrastructure.

The electoral management body may be required to assist parties and candidates in the logistics of deploying their representatives. This may require providing lists of voting stations to the parties and candidates as well as the routes of mobile voting stations and the departing times of electoral officials who are conducting special votes away from voting stations.

Independent observers, particularly if they are participating in international observer mission in a country with which they are not familiar , will require carefully planned logistical support.

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Transportation

Provision of transportation that is reliable, secure, and on time is critical in ensuring that voting stations are fully prepared for the commencement of voting and that accountable and valuable election supplies are retrieved expeditiously and safely.

Planning

Planning of transportation is a highly complex operation that needs to be completed well in advance of the election. The management resources needed to support an efficient election supplies transportation operation should not be underestimated, particularly where large geographic areas are involved and a wide range of transportation means need to be employed. Transportation plans need to be fully integrated with packaging plans and be flexible enough to respond to variations in delivery dates from suppliers.

Planning the retrieval of supplies from voting stations is as important as planning the initial supply. Ensuring that all accountable materials are returned to secure storage is an essential guarantee of election integrity. Loss of accountable materials at this stage will immediately raise public suspicions about the validity of voting and counts.

Methods

The required methods of transportation will depend on the terrain, weather conditions, time available for supply, and distances over which materials and equipment have to be transported. Whether direct distribution from a central store, or staged distribution from central to regional warehouses and then to voting stations, is used will partially depend on transportation infrastructure  and distances to be covered.

It may be efficient to enlist the assistance of other state agencies in the delivery and retrieval of voting station supplies in the short time frames available. However, public trust and confidence in their use must be considered.

It may be efficient to enlist the assistance of other state agencies in the delivery and retrieval of voting station supplies in the short time frames available. However, public trust and confidence in their use must be considered

Controls

Strict controls need to be applied, particularly for accountable voting materials and valuable supplies. A full audit trail of delivery and receipt documentation for accountable materials, from the time that supplies leave the manufacturer to their return to electoral management body stores following voting day, must be available.

Records of the locations of all supplies at any time must be rigorously maintained and personal accountability for their safekeeping enforced.

Delivering Voting Site Resources

As with delivery of materials, equipment and, where necessary, staff to voting stations, intensive planning of retrieval of voting site resources is required. This will involve:

• planning of pick-up routes and times;

• arrangements for checking that all accountable and reusable material has been returned.

Where ballot counts are conducted at separate count centres, transportation arrangements will need to include delivery of materials from the voting station to the counting centre, and after the count, from the counting centre to checking and storage.

Pick-Up of Material

These arrangements can be more complex than delivery of materials to the voting station and less likely to follow a pre-arranged timetable. Actual pick-up times from voting stations will be affected by how quickly close of voting activities are completed (there may be long delays if large numbers of voters are in the voting station at the time of close of voting), accounting and other records completed, and materials packaged. At the end of a long day, this may not be accomplished quickly.

Clear pick-up instructions must be conveyed to voting station staff and the importance of the roll back of election resources must be stressed to.

Pick-up schedules should allow for this. Most important is that there is liaison between the electoral district manager's office and each voting station so that progress can be monitored and any adjustments to pick-up scheduling relayed to drivers.

In more remote rural areas, it may not be practicable to return all material to the electoral district manager's office immediately after the election. It may be feasible to arrange for these materials to be held at any secure emergency resupply depots established, for next day or later pick-up and delivery to the electoral district manager's office.

There are jurisdictions where, in urban areas, the voting station or counting centre manager is responsible for returning all election materials to the electoral district manager's offices. In low security-risk environments, this can be cost-effective.

Checking Return of Material

The most important issue to check immediately on return of material is that all accountable voting materials and equipment have been returned. The delivery and receipt audit trail maintained for materials delivery should be used to control returns. Particular care needs to be taken that all ballots have been returned, that all ballot accounting records have been correctly completed, and that portable equipment (mobile phones and personal radios especially) are returned.

Wherever possible, it is preferable that voting station managers be present when their material is returned and checked into storage. Any missing accountable materials or equipment may be more readily traced with the assistance of the voting station manager at this stage, rather than later.

Following check-in and verification, the materials should be prepared for secure storage, reuse, or disposal.

Staff Arrangements

A retrieval schedule will also be required for staff who were transported to the voting station. For staff in remote areas, retrieval the next day may be more appropriate, in which case arrangements for an overnight stay will be required.

Arrangements with Suppliers

It is preferable that arrangements with materials and equipment suppliers be on an FIS (free into store) basis, including provision for supplier transportation to the electoral management body’s central and regional storage or packaging centres. This will generally be more cost-effective than transportation arranged by the electoral management body and will remove an extra administrative burden from election staff.

In higher security risk environments this may not be appropriate. In this case, it may be more prudent for the electoral management body to take responsibility for secure transport into their storage and packaging facilities.

For large quantities, staggered delivery may be more appropriate. Particularly when using supplier's transportation, it is essential that detailed checking of loads delivered into storage takes place before the transportation departs, and that transfer documents (supplier delivery dockets, electoral management body's supply control records) are annotated for any differences to the expected delivery and endorsed by election staff and the driver. This is an important component of the audit trail and accountability mechanisms for election supplies.

It is also prudent to ensure that the type of transportation to be used by the supplier will be appropriate and not compromised as a result of cost-cutting to ensure maximum financial returns for the supplier. Types of vehicles to be used (e.g., weather-protected and suitable for fast unloading at election storage facilities) should be specified.

Security Force Transportation

In high security-risk environments where security forces are involved in protection of voting locations, voters, and voting materials transport, integrated planning of logistical needs will assist in maintaining the necessary levels of protection. The use of a joint operations centre model can be effective.

It is of little use if election managers devise detailed plans for delivery or return of voting station materials along routes where, or at times, when security support cannot be provided.

Security forces need to assign some mobile capacity on and around voting day. Voting stations are obvious places where disturbances or unrest may occur. There may be other targets such as groups of voters travelling to and from voting stations. The concept of appropriately equipped rapid response forces for voting day can be useful.

Transportation Security

Where election materials are being transported between electoral management body offices and voting stations, an appropriate level of security needs to be provided at all times.

In low security-risk environments, the presence of an electoral management body staff member with the delivery vehicle will normally be sufficient. Observation of materials in transport by party or candidate representatives will assist transparency.

In higher security-risk areas, police or other security forces escort may be prudent or even necessary. Advice from security forces on this need should be sought and joint planning of transportation routes and schedules undertaken if security escorts are necessary.

Communications Systems

Voting operations generate a vast amount of information, not only internally, but also in interaction with the voting public's information needs. Early assessment of needs and planning for upgrading communication facilities to cope with the increased load will be necessary. Without the ability to communicate accurate information reliably, it will not be possible to make informed decisions in what is often a rapidly changing environment.

Communication networks will need to be set up between voting stations and electoral management body offices. In many situations, there will be no suitable existing communications facilities in voting station premises, and arrangements will need to be made for additional fixed line or mobile telecommunications.

There will be vastly increased communication traffic between electoral management body offices and existing facilities will need to be augmented to cope with both increased voice traffic and the need to communicate documents and acknowledge their receipt speedily. Requirements of public information programmes (e.g. telephone-based information hotlines) need to be integrated into overall telecommunications plans.

Communication Network Needs

For internal communications, examination of available infrastructure and its possible augmentation will address the following needs:

• Voice, document, and data communication between central, regional, and local voting operations administrative offices;

• voice and possibly document or data communications between all voting locations and their supervising electoral district offices;

• voice communication between staff in transit and their base, such as mobile training teams, mobile voting stations, and roving voting station supervisors;

• voice communications between electoral district managers, security force commands, and emergency services.

• voice and possibly document and data communication between counting centres and their supervising administration office;

• facilities needed for public information centres.

In higher security-risk environments, the potentially intensified interaction between electoral managers, security forces, and emergency services may be simplified by using joint operations centre

Infrastructure Capacities

Accurate infrastructure assessments must inform strategies for communications. For example, basing voting station communications on fixed line or mobile telephones where the infrastructure has neither the tested capacity or assured reliability for this is dangerous.

Similarly, reliance on computer data transfer for amalgamation of results or document communications between electoral management body’s local, regional, and central offices is dangerous where reliability of data transfer lines is doubtful.

Early Planning

In many societies, augmenting telecommunications capacity can entail long lead times. Early planning and notice to telecommunications authorities of the need for additional fixed lines is always advisable.

Involving telecommunications provider representatives when developing communication plans will facilitate early verification of the practicality of proposed plans. This can also prevent the use of unworkable solutions, such as proposing the use of mobile phone contact in areas with unreliable reception.

Testing

Where new or augmented communications facilities are being used, it is vital that they are properly tested prior to implementation date.

It is important that the tests cover not only individual pieces of equipment, but also simulate the total expected load on communications infrastructure. For large scale data and telecommunications loads, comprehensive trial runs are vital.

Service

Arrangements should be made with telecommunications providers to have service available on urgent call throughout voting day. For critical data communications links, an on-site service presence may be warranted.

Communications Procedures

Effectiveness of communications will be enhanced if there are standard procedures for routing of information, whether in traditional hard copy or data transmissions.

It is important that all staff, particularly those temporarily engaged for the election, are aware of these standards.

Asset Security

Strict asset control over communications equipment issued to staff is vital. Mobile phones, radios, portable fax machines, and computers in particular are highly portable items that can easily be concealed.

Effective allocation, recording, and personal accountability systems will be required to ensure that communications equipment is all returned after the electoral process is complete.

Cost-Effectiveness

The cost-effectiveness of solutions to communications problems must be considered. Considerable extra funds can be expended on strategies that may offer little more in the way of speed or reliability or offer features that are redundant.

Considerations would include:

• is it really necessary to put a fax machine in every voting station? How often will it be used? Can results be as effectively phoned in?

• does all headquarters staff need mobile phones, or is it sufficient to have enough phones for use by staff when out of the office?

• is daily courier service to all electoral district offices really necessary or is every other day, backed up by existing fax facilities, sufficient?

• should there be a limit on the mobile phone usage, for voting station managers? How should the cell phone costs be monitored and maintained?

Voice Communications

Additional Voting Station Facilities Required

It is likely that additional voice communications facilities will be required for communication between electoral management body offices and some voting stations.

Voting stations needs assessments should determine the availability of existing telephone connections to voting station premises.

All voting stations should have access to voice communications with the electoral district office. Where fixed lines are not present, the cost and lead time on installation should be assessed against the costs and reception of short-term leased mobile or radio phones.

Local Offices

Electoral district managers’ offices should be set up so that they are capable of conducting business and having lines available for public inquiries. In addition to general office phone links, additional needs would often include:

• a separate, unpublicised line for the electoral district manager to maintain reliable contact with other electoral management body offices;

• rotating lines for public inquiries that can be augmented as inquiries peak towards voting day;

• a line for communicating with voting station managers (or rotary line, depending on number of voting stations being supervised);

• additional lines for communicating results, if this is done by phone;

• a mobile phone or radio on voting day to enable staff to inspect voting stations at some time during voting day and remain in contact with the office;

• for roving voting station supervisors, a mobile phone or radio while they are on duty.

If joint operations centres are established, they will also need to be supplied with adequate phone facilities.

Regional and Central Offices

Assessment of how many additional phone lines will be required, based on estimated operational traffic, will be needed. Current switchboard capacities or the need to provide switchboard facilities will also need to be considered.

Telephone Information Services

The number and configuration of additional phone lines required for any telephone information service for voters will need to be carefully assessed.

A determination needs to be made as to whether this is a local operation in various offices, or whether a call forward options to the first vacant line available in any office will be used., These options will affect the number and location of lines required. Too few lines, resulting in long delays or constant busy signals, will annoy more than assist voters.