Recruitment and Training of Voting Station Staff

Ensuring that there is a sufficient staff, which has been trained to be competent in their required duties in voting stations and at the vote count, is the backbone of voting operations. For a national election, staffing and training will be one of the biggest staff mobilization exercises undertaken in a country. Similarly at provincial and local election levels, staffing and training requirements for voting operations will be the largest personnel exercises administrations are likely to implement. The sheer scale of the exercise requires precise planning.

Staffing for voting will generally be the largest cost component in election operations, small savings in unit costs can have a large impact on overall cost-effectiveness. But electoral officers and the effectiveness with which they serve the public are also the most visible service aspect of the election and are the point of interaction that citizens have with the electoral process. The basis of staffing plans must be cost-effective service delivery, rather than merely low cost service delivery.

Staffing Profiles

In order to effectively determine staff functions and categories for voting operations, staffing profiles should be developed for voting stations and the count. Development of these profiles will require:

• determination of the service standards that voting operations staff must deliver to the public

• defining staff duties and any staff categories required to ensure comprehensive, service-oriented implementation of voting procedures

• determining the required staffing levels in voting stations to deal with the number of potential voters in each voting station;

• consideration of any temporary administrative assistance required in the planning and organization of voting operations

While effective staffing numbers will vary widely in different election environments, according to factors such as the procedural framework and the experience of both officials and voters have had of current voting procedures, adopting standard staffing models for voting stations and count centers will assist in delivering cost effective services  From the number of voting locations and estimates of the staffing needs at each, a master summary of required staff to be recruited should be drawn up for each electoral district or voting administration area

Recruitment of Staff

In accordance with staffing profiles for voting stations and other voting operations activities, a recruitment strategy that aims to finalize engagement of sufficient staff in time for them to be trained to the required competency levels prior to their taking up their duties needs to be implemented. Essential elements of an effective recruitment strategy include:

• Determining the responsibilities for recruitment action, and the appropriate timing of recruitment of staff. In many environments, decentralization of recruitment to the local level will provide a more effective method of obtaining suitable staff 

• Determination of the skill levels and personal qualities required for employment, against which applicants for employment are to be assessed. In defining recruitment standards, it is important to ensure that voting operations staff is not only capable of undertaking their duties, but also that they are representative of the local communities which they are serving  

• Devising cost-effective recruitment methods. These may include general advertising for staff, seeking staff from other state agencies, or approaching professional associations or other organizations whose members are likely to possess the requisite skills for voting operations.

Important factors in maintaining cost-effective recruitment is the endeavor to retain the services, from election to election, of experienced electoral officerswho have given satisfactory service. The method of selection of successful applicants needs not only to be transparent  but also ensure that applicants are properly assessed so that the most appropriate staff are selected.

• Temporary staff engaged for voting operations should be employed on a cost-effective, and fair, contract basis.

• The number of staff recruited should also allow for contingencies such as unavailability of staff on voting day and replacement of staff who do not satisfactorily complete training.

Training of Staff

Training of staff for voting operations has to instill competencies and the election integrity ethos in a large number of trainees in a relatively short time.

Organization of training will need careful planning as to:

• what competencies need to be developed in voting operations staff , who is to be trained and the training timetable

• training materials, locations  and reference materials to be provided to trainees

• developing consistent session content and delivery styles for all trainers

• any training necessary for those who will act as trainers of voting staff

• ongoing monitoring of voting staff to determine that they are knowledgeable about current administrative or legislative amendments.

The extent of this need will be very much determined by whether training is conducted in a centralized or distributed fashion and whether professional trainers or supervisory voting operations staff is used for training polling officials.

Equally important to the effective delivery of training is that it is conducted in suitable venues and utilizes appropriate training aids

Evaluation

To ensure that training has been effective, the training plans and methodologies also need to incorporate methods of assessing voting staff competencies during and immediately after completion of training and a program for evaluating the success of staff recruitment and training processes

Briefing Other Election Participants

The electoral management body's involvement in training will usefully include providing at least materials, and preferably briefing sessions, for other participants in the election process, including;

• parties, candidates and their representatives 

• independent observers

• security force members with election security responsibilities

Codes of Conduct

To ensure a high level of service and integrity, and to ensure that staff are aware of the behavioral norms which they are expected to adhere to, it is useful to develop codes of conduct that all voting operations staff must undertake to uphold. Similarly codes of conduct for political participants in voting operations will provide them with an integrity framework and a guide for voting operations staff in their dealings with party and candidate representatives.

Voter Operation Staffing Profile

Standard Staffing Profiles

A common set of standards will ensure that staffing needs for voting operations are effectively determined, particularly in allocation of staff to voting stations and for ballot counts. These should:

• define the service level targets on which staff duties and staffing numbers are based;

• determine different categories of staff that will be required;

• define standard functions and duties to be undertaken by each category of staff 

• Provide a standard schedule of the number of staff that will be required in relation to the workloads estimated at each voting station, for other voting facilities provided, and for any administrative or logistical assistance required.

The Need for Common Standards

Leaving staff categories, staffing levels and service standards for voters wholly to the discretion of individual local electoral administrators or voting station managers is highly likely to lead to:

• inconsistencies in voter service and local variations in implementation of standard election procedures to fit the type and number of staff engaged;

• inefficiencies in staff usage, either through engaging too many staff for the tasks to be undertaken or numbers of voter to be serviced, or through excessive attempts to cut costs by reducing the staffing levels below what is required to undertake relevant tasks effectively.

Regulation of Staffing Profiles

It would be normal for electoral legislation to define a basis for the staffing framework and staff functions for voting stations and voting administration . This is necessary to determine legal accountabilities of staff in the voting process.

In some jurisdictions, very detailed standards are included in electoral legislation or regulations, e.g., for all staff categories that may be employed, staffing numbers per voting station, and similar specifications. This may be appropriate in environments where electoral management bodies are relatively new, or where there is little history of integrity in administrative service to democratic ideals.

However, this is a relatively inflexible approach which can lead to inefficiencies. It would be generally preferable to leave the detail of staffing profiles to the electoral management body as an administrative issue.

This will ensure an appropriate response to differences in local conditions. Voting stations of similar size in different areas can often have different needs in terms of the types of staff and numbers of staff employed, according to the linguistic, cultural, age, and educational levels of the voters in the voting station. Some facility for approval of variations to standard staffing profiles in particular voting stations is useful to promote both cost-effectiveness and ensure services provided meet the local population's needs.

While such flexibility allows the electoral management body to rapidly implement efficient procedures or systems that affect staffing numbers and functions, it requires robust management control. Departures from standard profiles must still meet the base requirements of the legal framework and should be subject to approval from election administrators.

Environmental Effects on Staffing Needs

While there is a common need for standard staffing profiles to enhance effectiveness, the actual staffing profiles, functions, and service levels for voting operations will vary among election environments.

There is no universal "best" staffing profile. Appropriate determination of how many staff are required and what they should be recruited and trained to do is dependent on a number of other interdependent variables in the election process. Significant amongst these are:

• The election system. The complexity of the system of voting, and the familiarity of voters with the voting system and procedures will affect voter’s potential information needs in voting stations and the time they take to cast their votes. This will affect both the overall numbers of staff and the staff category mix required in voting facilities.

• The number of voting facilities provided and any restrictions on their size. The basic determinant of staffing resources required will be the number of voters to be serviced--not just in total, but with regard to each voting facility. Staffing costs can be contained by providing a lesser number of larger voting facilities.

Determining the appropriate number of voters that a voting facility can effectively service is one of the critical issues for effective voting operations management, and it will vary in different procedural, societal, and management quality environments 

• The voting procedures adopted. Procedures adopted for controlling voters within the voting station, determining voter eligibility, issuing of voting materials, dealing with unregistered voters, providing voter information, and any arrangements for special voting facilities will determine the functions of staff and any useful separate categories of staff, and have a large bearing on the numbers of staff required in voting facilities.

• The basis for employing staff, whether as independent officials or, as in some jurisdictions, counter balancing representatives of different political sectors of society.

Different staffing profiles will also be required between models that use a hierarchical organisation of staff in voting facilities, with a defined management structure, and those that use a consensus model, where all staff have equal responsibility.

• Effectiveness of public information campaigns on voting procedures Better informed voters will generally require a lower staff-to-voter ratio in voting facilities.

• Election calendars. Compressed time frames, whether for the voting period or for production and distribution of materials before voting day activities, will generally increase the need for temporary administrative assistance in electoral management body offices.

• Count locations and procedures--whether ballot counts are to take place at voting stations or at centralised facilities and the deadline for their completion will affect the ability to use voting station staff for the count. Decisions in this regard will impact on the numbers of staff required overall, the skills required of voting station staff, and the framework of training

Staffing Costs

Except in situations where voting station staff are compelled to undertake their duties as an unpaid civic duty, staffing of voting stations will be a significant, if not the largest, cost component of the voting process. Cost-effectiveness in voting station staffing will therefore have a large impact on the overall cost-effectiveness of the election. It is very important for legislators and election administrators to recognize this fact when determining election frameworks and procedures. Most aspects of the election process will have an impact on the cost of voting station staffing.

Voter Service Standards

Determining Service Level Objectives

As with any service-oriented activity, before determining the staffing profiles necessary for voting facilities, it is necessary to define the level of service to voters that these facilities are expected to provide. Formalising service objectives is an essential, though often overlooked, factor in the determination of staff functions and rational, cost-effective allocation of staffing resources for voting operations. It is of equal importance in developing appropriate work practices for implementing voting procedures.

Instilling service objectives in polling staff during training provides them with a motivational platform. Public availability of the service standards that the electoral management body strives to meet is an important part of maintaining public accountability of the management of voting processes.

Service Criteria

Service objectives for voting facilities would generally address the following criteria:

• traffic--how many voters per hour each voting station can reasonably be expected to service;
• accuracy--what level of accuracy in the processing of voters must be achieved;
• integrity--what level of risk of voting integrity being breached is acceptable;

In an environment with unlimited resources, voting facilities could be staffed so that no voter has to wait to vote, all voters are processed accurately, and there is total control over all aspects of voting integrity. In fact, such resources rarely exist. While service standards will vary in different election environments--particularly for traffic--a balance has to be struck between service and cost-effectiveness in a manner that is acceptable to the public.

Traffic Standards

The most highly visible aspect of voting operations is how long voters have to wait at a voting station to cast their vote. There are a number of significant factors that affect voting station traffic.

Important issues relate to staff performance, particularly the time taken to issue voting materials. It is useful to develop and thoroughly test a standard rate for issuing voting materials--expressed in voters per hour--that polling officials are expected to achieve. This can become one of the major determinants of voting station staffing levels 

Achievable voting material issuing rates will vary widely in different election environments based on the following considerations:

• voter identification and eligibility checks to be undertaken;
• the accuracy and design of the voters lists used;
• the number and style of the ballots being issued;
• the method of voting, particularly the difference between using manually completed paper ballots, voting machines, or computers.

There is no generic voting material issue-rate standard that can be applied to all environments. In some environments, polling officials can comfortably achieve voting material issue rates of around sixty voters per hour. At the other end of the spectrum, mobile voting stations dealing with elderly or infirm voters may only be able to deal with five to ten voters per hour.

There are also other important factors that will influence the rate at which voters can be processed. These include:

• the number of voting compartments provided;
• the number of voters requiring assistance or detailed explanation of voting procedures;
• the complexity of the ballot and, hence, the time taken for each voter to complete the ballot.

Queuing Time

What is an acceptable time for voters to have to queue to vote will vary according to general service expectations within a society. In more advanced societies the public's tolerance of queuing is likely to be less.

In Australian federal elections, for example, the service objective is that voters will generally not have to queue for more than ten minutes before being issued ballot materials.

Where democratic elections are a new experience, or in environments where people expect a lengthy queue for government-provided services, tolerance of long queuing times to vote may be greater. However, any voter having to wait more than thirty minutes to vote could be generally regarded as unacceptable.

Peak Voting Periods

It would be highly unusual for there to be an even flow of voters throughout the hours of voting. For many reasons--such as availability of transport or encouragement to vote early--large numbers of voters will tend to arrive at the same time. To effectively plan staffing levels to handle such peak periods, research based on accurate records from past elections of voter attendance broken down by time period is necessary.

Cost-effectiveness can be served by a staffing model that permits the engagement of additional staff for part of voting day, during the peak voting hours only (which in many systems will tend to be during the first few hours the polls are open) for such functions as providing information to voters and issuing voting materials. Where such models are implemented, additional controls may need to be introduced to ensure full accountability of all polling official actions.

Service Evaluation

Evaluating whether there has been satisfactory achievement of voter service objectives and that the service targets set were appropriate for the environment is important for planning any future, cost-efficient improvements.

Appropriate methodologies for this could include analysis of such issues as complaints received from voters, records of voter queuing delays, and using sample exit polls or other service-oriented surveys of a sample of voters conducted by the electoral management body.

Level, Categories & Duties of Electoral Staff

Effectively calculating the number of staff required in voting stations is essential for providing quality service to voters and controlling voting operations costs.

Overall, the number of staff required will be directly related to the number of registered voters that have to be serviced. However, the actual staffing levels required in each voting station will be directly related to a number of other factors including:

• the range of services to be provided, in terms of voting facilities required by the legal framework and additional services provided to assist voters;

• the complexity of the voting procedures;

• the physical layout of the voting station;

• how familiar and experienced voters are with the voting procedures;

• the number of hours during which voting will take place;

• whether a single election or multiple simultaneous elections are being held;

• the service standards for voter processing that have been set by the electoral management body. There are also localized factors that may affect staffing levels in specific voting stations, such as:

• the characteristics of the local voting population, particularly in terms of age and literacy in the official language to be used for voting;

• local conditions that may exacerbate peak periods of voter attendance and thus require additional staff to ensure service standards are met throughout voting day.

Effective Staffing Levels

Given that there will be wide variations in these factors; it is difficult to determine an ideal staffing level applicable to all environments, which will ensure that all the functional responsibilities in a voting station are effectively implemented.

However, there are some general principles for determining staffing levels that can be applied. Most important is in establishing a standard staffing model for voting stations at a particular election. The manner in which this is done will depend on the way in which voting sites are determined  In broad terms, there are two basic methods for doing this:

1. By dividing electoral districts into voting station areas containing approximately equal numbers of voters, one staffing model may be developed that is appropriate for all voting stations. This implies the formulation, either through regulation or preferably by administrative direction, of a standard voting station size.

In some circumstances, particularly where accessibility needs to be preserved for rural residents or there are large differences in literacy levels between rural and urban residents, there may need to be two different models for rural and urban electoral districts. This model is relatively simple to implement since it provides a single or very limited number of standard staffing requirements for voting stations.

1. A more flexible policy on how many voters will be accommodated at each voting station may be determined by efficiencies that can be gained from local circumstances (e.g., size of premises available, experience of staff).

Staffing is determined on the basis of a sliding scale directly related to the number of voters expected at each voting station. While there can be efficiencies derived from this method, it is most viable in advanced electoral management systems with access to computers and relevant software to determine staff allocations for each voting station.

Flexibility

The way that standard staffing for a voting station is determined will require some managerial flexibility to adapt staff numbers to local circumstances. This is as useful where additional staff are required to provide an acceptable service level (e.g., in areas with high proportions of aged residents or low literacy levels or where voter traffic may be slower and information needs greater) as it is for circumstances where standard staffing is excessive and cost efficiencies can be achieved without affecting service.

However, such flexibility should be treated on an exception basis and require approval from senior electoral management body officials to ensure consistency of service and avoid wasteful additional staffing and emphasis on economy over effective service by local officials.

(For futher information see table 5, staffing to meet specific election needs)

Staffing to Meet Specific Election Needs

The following table5 shows how widely standard staffing varies between jurisdictions and how dependent it is on the specific election environment, particularly in terms of voting procedures and voters' familiarity, and the availability of experienced staff. The examples for Australia and South Africa have the following characteristics:

Both deal with similar numbers of voters in the voting station.

Both are for elections in which voters had to complete two ballot papers--by a single mark in the South African case, and in the Australian case by a choice of a single preference mark or exhaustive preferential numbering on one of the ballot papers and again exhaustive preferential numbering on the other.

Voter identity checks were more rigorous for the South African example, involving production of identity cards and in some cases marking with ink. In the Australian case, voters were simply asked to declare that their claimed identity and address were correct and that they had not previously voted in the election.

In the Australian example, where both voters and officials were experienced in the voting procedures, voters could vote at any voting station in their electoral district, and bank-style queuing was used in which voters were directed to the first available ballot issuing officer in the voting station the South African example, voters and officials were not experienced in the voting procedures used. Most had little experience with voting. Voters were assigned to a single specific voting station, and voters lists were generally split between two, eligibility checking and materials issuing tables divided alphabetically (i.e., A-M, N-Z).

VOTING STATION STAFFING PROFILES
	SOUTH AFRICA LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS 1995	AUSTRALIA FEDERAL ELECTION 1996
Method of Determining Staffing	Standard staffing up to a maximum voter registration of : Urban areas (literate voters) 2500 Urban areas(less literate voters) 1250 Rural areas 750	Flexible according to number of voters
Possible adjustments	Decrease in officials on approval of Premier where small numbers of voters expected Increase in numbers of voters to Urban areas (literate voters) 4000 Urban areas(less literate voters) 2500 on approval of Premier	Adjustments can be made for local circumstances
Number of hours voting open	15	10
Expected voter turnout for this example	Maximum voter turnout in: Urban areas (literate voters) 2500 Urban areas(less literate voters) 1250 Rural areas 750	2500	1250	750
STAFFING CATEGORY	NUMBER OF STAFF
Voting Station Manager	1	1	1	1
Deputy Voting Station Manager	1	0	0	0
Entrance Control /Queue Control Officers	2	1	1	0
Exit Control Officer	1	0	0	0
Voter's Register Checking Officer	2
Individual Constituency Ballot Issuing Officer	2	*5	*3	*2
Proportional Representation Ballot Issuing Officer	2
Voting Compartment Monitor	2	0	0	0
Ballot Box Guard	2	1	1	1
TOTAL STAFF	15	8	6	4
The same official both checks voter eligibility and issues both ballots to the voter.

Voting Station Management

It is preferable to appoint a person to be responsible for all operations at a voting station. Under most legal frameworks for voting, this is a requirement--whether the position is defined as a voting station manager, a chairperson of a voting station election commission, the assistant returning officer for the voting station, the presiding officer for the voting station, or the like.

Defining a single accountability point provides an appropriate focus for information flow between the election administration and the voting station, and holds a voting station official legally accountable for voting station operations. Functions that would be appropriate to formally delegate to the voting station manager include:

• inspection of the voting station to ensure that it meets required standards and to become familiar with the characteristics of the location

• ensuring that all materials and equipment required for the voting station have arrived on schedule;

• set-up of the voting station according to the approved layouts, preferably on the day before voting day, with assistance from other staff;

• ensuring that the voting station opens and closes at the correct times

• management of the voting station's staff during the hours of voting 

• dealing with party or candidate representatives and observers in the voting station and liaison with security forces

• dealing with objections from voters and party or candidate representatives and resolving conflict situations or referring that to the relevant authority for resolution;

• communications with the election administration on voting progress and any difficulties encountered, and receipt of instructions for voting station activity;

• dealing with more complex voter information requests;

• providing any special facilities that require the intervention of senior voting station staff--such as recording objections or challenges to voters, overseeing or assisting with assisted votes, dealing with unregistered voters who claim to be eligible to vote, controlling voting day registration services (these responsibilities would normally be defined in the legal framework for voting operations);

• implementation, with the assistance of other staff, of close of voting procedures, sorting and packaging of all material for the count, and for return of material to the electoral management body;

• compiling and endorsing all required voting station records and completing management and operational reports on voting station activity;

• where counts are conducted at voting stations following the close of voting, managing the count.

In low security-risk environments where private transport is common, allowing voting station managers to be responsible for the transportation of voting materials, apart from bulky equipment such as voting compartments or electronic voting machines, to and from the voting station, can be a cost-effective measure.

Where full cascade models for training are implemented, voting station managers could also be responsible for training the staff of their voting station. Under some circumstances, particularly in rural areas where the election administration has no local presence, they could also assist with recruitment of their voting station staff. Where voting station managers are required to undertake duties prior to voting day--such as inspection of sites, staff recruitment and training, materials collection and transport, and set-up of voting station materials and equipment--payments for their duties should include a supplement for these responsibilities.

Deputy Voting Station Managers

Particularly in larger voting stations, it is prudent to formally appoint an official as deputy to the voting station manager, both to assist in the management of voting processes and to act as a substitute manager of the voting station when required. In many systems, the voting station manager holds legal responsibilities which only the holder of that position may undertake. In such circumstances, it is essential that provision be made for a designated voting station staff member to take over in this management role in the absence of the voting station manager.

Deputy voting station managers, in addition to assisting the voting station manager in supervisory duties during voting, could be assigned such duties as:

• dealing with information requests;

• dealing with assisted voters;

• supervising any special voting facilities provided;

• assisting the voting station manager with any duties before voting day. Where voting station managers undergo additional training, their deputies would preferably be trained to the same standard.

Entrance and Queue Control

It may be possible to assign entry and queue control duties to the same official, depending on the risks of unauthorized persons entering the voting station, the method adopted for checking voter identity, and the number of voters that the voting station will accommodate. Combining these functions will be more difficult if there are multiple queues within the voting station.

Entry Control

Entry control duties will include:

• controlling the flow of voters entering the voting station so that it does not become overcrowded;

• checking that voters are in possession of any identity document required for them to be issued voting material and turning away those without the necessary document(s);

• checking that voters are attending their correct voting station and directing those who are not to information assistance facilities;

• ensuring that only persons authorised to be present in the voting station enter the voting station.

Security

Security issues regarding entry to the voting station, such as surrendering of weapons, are better handled by security forces than voting station staff.

Queue Control

Queue control functions will include:

• maintaining orderly queues of voters waiting to be checked for eligibility and issue of voting material;

• where there are multiple queues of voters within the voting station (e.g., derived from an alphabetical split based on surnames, or on different geographic areas covered by the voting station), directing voters to the correct queue;

• pro-actively seeking out any voters that may need information on voting procedures, and directing any voters with complex queries that cannot be answered quickly to the appropriate information official;

• identifying voters requiring assistance with voting and advising the voting station manager;

• identifying voters with language difficulties and directing them to any language assistance facilities provided;

• identifying voters who may require special voting facilities;

• ascertaining if voters have registered to vote, and if not, directing them to the appropriate officials;

• monitoring the time spent by voters in queues waiting to vote and advising the voting station manager of any bottlenecks.

Effective queue control mechanisms are an essential feature of an effectively managed voting station. 

Information and Language Assistance

In some environments it may be necessary to appoint voting station staff whose specific duties are to provide information to voters. The need for special staff to fulfill these functions should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Conditions that would require special staff for voter inquiries would include:

• a large voting station where other staff will be fully occupied with other core duties;

• where there are significant numbers of new voters or voters not familiar with voting procedures. Situations where the standard staffing profile for voting stations may need to contain separate information officers in all voting stations include:

• where there have been an overhaul of voting procedures or the introduction of new voting equipment such as computers;

• the population has had little experience with voting.

Unless there is a specific task on which all voters need to be informed--e.g., taking them through a trial run on voting machines or computers--information officers can generally be more effectively used in a voting station if they are mobile, rather than stationed at a desk. Such officers can deal with more complex information requests that cannot be handled by other voting station staff without slowing down the processing of voters. As these officers would need to have a good knowledge of voting procedures, it may be appropriate to combine information officer and deputy voting station manager functions in all but very large voting stations.

Interpreters and Language Assistants It would be cost-effective, in areas where there are communities not fluent in the language used in official voting materials, to engage within other staff categories officials who are fluent in languages commonly used in the area. If this is not possible, service standards can be improved, and voters assisted in voting in the correct manner, by engaging staff as interpreters and language assistants for languages spoken by significant numbers of the voters in the area.

Such officials should be subject to the same codes of conduct and voting secrecy requirements as other voting station staff. Their duties should be restricted to translating official documents for voters, without making any personal comment, and interpreting information requests by voters to voting station staff and the information provided in response to these requests.

Controlling the Voting Process

In controlling the voting process, staff will be required for the following functions:

• checking that voters are eligible to vote at that voting station;

• issuing the correct voting material;

• monitoring voting compartments, or booths;

• ensuring the security of ballot boxes and their contents, and/or voting machines or computers, where used;

• controlling the voting station exit;

• providing any special voting facilities that may be required.

Voter Eligibility Checking Officers

The basic duties required of officers checking voter eligibility include:

• check the voter's identity, either by reference to the required identity document or on the basis of a required statement from the voter;

• check the voter's name and other information (e.g., address, date of birth) against the voters list;

• if the voter is found on the voters list, mark, in the prescribed fashion, the voter's entry on the list to show that the voter has voted, and direct the voter to the voting materials issuing officer;

• if the voter cannot be found on the voters list, direct the voter to the appropriate voting station staff member or the voting station manager for assistance;

• at the close of voting, consolidate records of the numbers of voters marked as having voted.

Where multiple voting controls are based on marking the voter with special ink, a separate official may need to be appointed to check that the voter has not been previously marked with ink, and then apply the ink, to maintain an adequate processing speed for voters through eligibility checking.

It is more cost-effective--and enhances voter queue control--for the functions of checking voter eligibility and issuing accountable voting materials to be undertaken by the same official. However, this is not always possible to implement, as eligibility checks may be complex and the voting station staff member may not have the required skills to undertake both these activities. Where there is any doubt about the ability of individual staff members to undertake both tasks, or it would slow voter processing significantly, it is better for these tasks to be allocated to separate officials.

Legislative frameworks may also require that different voting station staff undertake these two functions.

Voting Materials Issuing Officers'

Depending on the voting method used, whether based on accountable ballots or ballot envelopes, these officials may be required to issue ballots, ballot envelopes, or both. Their basic functions are to ensure that, once the voter's eligibility to vote has been determined:

• any required official mark is applied correctly to each ballot and/or ballot envelope;

• voters are issued the correct ballot(s) and/or ballot envelopes(s);

• the method of marking or otherwise correctly completing the ballot, and the requirement to complete the ballot in secret in a voting compartment, is explained to all voters;

• under accountable ballot systems, the method of folding the completed ballot so as to display any official mark to an official before depositing the ballot in the ballot box is explained or demonstrated to each voter;

• voters are not directed towards the voting compartment area unless a voting compartment is vacant;

• accurate records of the numbers of ballots (and/or ballot envelopes) issued are maintained;

• at the close of voting, ballots and/or ballot envelopes issued are reconciled to the number of voters marked off the voters list or allowed to vote under other prescribed circumstances.

Where computers are used for voting, the ballot issuing function will generally not be required. However, officials may be needed to monitor the use of computer equipment.

Voting Compartment Monitors

Responsibilities for supervising the voting compartment area need to be allocated to specific officials. Regular checks need to be undertaken to ensure that:

• any information posters required to be displayed in the voting compartments are in place and are replaced when necessary;

• no voting material has been left by voters in the voting compartments;

• Any papers or symbols that may influence voters that have been left in or written on the voting compartments are removed;

• where ballots are to be marked by pen or pencil, functioning writing implements are in each voting compartment.

The area around the voting compartments must be kept free of extraneous material to provide smooth passage for voters. To ensure secrecy of voting, supervision of this area will ensure that:

• voters are alone in voting compartments;

• ballots are not marked outside voting compartments;

• there is liaison with materials issuing officials to ensure that voting materials are not issued to a voter unless a voting compartment is vacant;

• on completing their ballots, voters are directed to the ballot box (or appropriate ballot box, where more than one is in use);

Depending on the number of voters attending the voting station, and their familiarity with voting processes, there may be no need to appoint additional officials to carry out the above responsibilities. The voting compartment area could be monitored by other officials, such as information officers or the voting station manager and/or deputy manager, if their primary functions will allow this. Where voters are familiar with voting procedures, staff issuing voting materials may be able to direct voters to vacant voting compartments.

Ballot Box Monitors

Except under procedures that require voters to return to the official who issued their voting material and deposit their ballot at the material issuing table, it is always prudent to have staff whose sole function is to monitor the ballot box(es) into which voters deposit their ballots. In some very small voting stations it may be possible for the voting station manager to undertake this function, but it would be generally advisable to have separate staff for this function. Duties of ballot box guards would include:

• guarding the ballot box and preventing any attempts to damage, deface, or tamper with it;

• ensuring that no unauthorised material enters the ballot box--generally requiring that any official marks placed on the reverse of the ballot by the issuing official are inspected before the voter is allowed to deposit the ballot(s) in the ballot box;

• ensuring that electors deposit ballot(s) into the correct ballot box before leaving the voting station and do not place additional ballots in the ballot box;

• directing voters to the exit after they have deposited their ballot(s);

• checking the ballot box(es) regularly to determine how full they are (generally done by passing a ruler through the ballot box slot) and advising the voting station manager if a fresh ballot box is required.

Where voting machines or electronic voting systems are used, appointment of staff for these functions will not be necessary. However, this saving in staff may be balanced by the need to engage more staff to inform voters on how to use the voting equipment.

Exit Control Officers

Where voting station layouts allow the ballot boxes to be placed in close proximity to the voting station exit, exit control functions may be undertaken by the same staff who are guarding the ballot boxes.

In larger voting stations, or where there are security concerns, even where this layout is achieved, it would be more prudent to appoint separate staff to undertake exit control duties. Duties of exit control officers would include:

• ensuring voters leave the voting station promptly after voting;

• preventing any assembly of unauthorised persons around the voting station exit or any entry of persons to the voting station through the exit;

• ensuring that voters do not leave the voting station with voting materials.

Special Voting Facilities

Where special voting facilities (such as absentee voting or mobile voting) are provided from normal voting stations, staff with these specific responsibilities should generally be engaged. Exceptions to this may occur in cases where the expected number of voters using these facilities is sufficiently low to be handled, without detriment to other voters, by staff undertaking other functions.

Other Voting Operations Staff

Apart from the main contingent of staff required in voting stations on voting day and for the count, there will generally be a need to engage staff for other voting operations support duties. These would include:

• Where there is no permanent electoral management body presence at a local level, temporary electoral district managers, local election commissions, or similar staff (depending on how accountabilities are defined in the legal framework) responsible for the election in each electoral district.

Where the election is not electing individual representatives to multiple electoral districts, these could be geographic administration areas based on other administrative boundaries, such as local government districts.

• Staff for special voting facilities, such as early voting, mail voting, voting at foreign locations, absentee voting facilities, and mobile voting stations.

• Administrative support for election preparation tasks, such as organising supplies and logistics, recruitment and other staffing matters, packaging of material for despatch to voting stations, and return of material from the count.

• Where resources and geographic conditions allow, a network of roving field supervisors to assist voting station managers and monitor voting station performance on voting day.

Administrative Support

To maintain cost-effective service delivery, even permanent electoral management bodies would not usually be permanently staffed to the level required to deliver all required services during the election period. Cost effective solutions to additional output needs during this period could involve engagement of temporary staff for;

• administrative support, or

• contracting out (with sufficiently rigorous performance guarantees) some large scale administrative functions, such as payroll management and packaging of voting station material, to other organizations

Strict controls on costs of additional administrative support staff should be implemented. As most tasks are likely to peak and trough in an irregular fashion, it would be more cost-effective to engage most temporary administrative assistance staff on an hourly basis rather than guaranteeing them work on a daily, weekly, or longer basis.

Temporary administrative assistance staff would be generally more usefully employed on intensive, larger scale process-driven tasks, such as:

• maintaining staffing and payroll records;

• preparing purchasing documentation for approval and monitoring supply of orders;

• checking materials and equipment supplies and repackaging this for delivery to voting stations;

• checking and sorting for secure storage, re-use, or destruction of materials returned from voting stations and counts;

• assisting with any mail voting functions conducted from electoral management body offices;

• general administrative and logistics assistance to electoral management body staff, including in electoral district managers' offices;

• answering less complex queries from voters.

Maintaining comprehensive historical data on processing times and workloads will help in developing frameworks for improving efficient use of temporary administrative staff. Except for tasks requiring any specialist data entry or similar skills, it would generally be more effective to draw on the same database of staff for these needs rather than engaging staff for specific functions.

Roving Officials/Voting Station Liaison Officers

Voting operations administrators often need to be relatively office-bound on voting day, particularly if managing electoral district or regional operations and security centers 

Management effectiveness can be greatly enhanced if senior voting station staffs (preferably with some prior experience as voting station managers) are appointed as roving liaison officers or inspectors for a group of voting stations. The ability to do this will be limited by the availability of suitable staff, the distance between voting stations, and the security environment. In rural areas, particularly, this may not be practicable to implement.

The number of roving officials that would be reasonable to assign will vary according to the geographic size of the electoral administration district and the number of voting stations. A sufficient number should be employed to allow a minimum of one visit during the hours of voting to each voting station in their areas, and preferably two, one in the first few hours of voting and another later in the day or around close of voting. Voting stations under the control of less experienced managers (during training) should be targeted for more frequent visits.

These roving officials should generally be able to provide effective field supervision for eight to ten voting locations. Such officials can serve as effective "eyes and ears" for the election administration and provide support for voting station managers in their tasks. Appropriate duties for such officials would include:

• sure that procedures for voting are being followed correctly in voting stations and provide guidance to voting station managers and staff on correct procedures;

• inspect checklists of activities completed by voting station managers and ensure that all required tasks have been completed;

• ensure that voting station layouts follow the correct plan, or if modified are an effective response to difficulties with the location being used;

• carry with them reserve stocks of voting materials to use for emergency re-supply of voting stations;

• assist voting station managers with any planning issues for the remainder of voting day;

• ensure that close of voting activities have been conducted correctly and provide any required guidance on the packaging of materials;

• monitor the correct application of count procedures where counts are to be conducted in voting stations;

• complete performance quality checklists for each voting station visited and provide progress reports to the electoral district manager on the overall situation in the field during voting day;

• following the conclusion of voting, provide a report to the electoral district manager on the performance of voting station managers and an assessment of the operations in each voting station. To be effective, these roving officials will require:

• reliable transportation sufficient to hold a travelling reserve stock of materials;

• clear delegated authority from the voting operations administrators to direct voting station staff;

• radio or mobile phone communication from their vehicle to voting stations and to the relevant voting operations centre.

While the engagement of this additional staff may be considered a luxury, in jurisdictions where they are used they have had a marked positive effect on the quality of voting station performance.

Recruitment

Voting operations, as an activity that requires high quality performance across many widely-dispersed sites, depends for its success on the quality, integrity, sound judgment, and self-reliance of the staff employed.

Elections succeed or fail at the voting station level. It is vitally important, therefore, that sufficient numbers of motivated and suitably qualified staff are recruited, trained, and are subject to effective supervision.

Recruitment Responsibilities

Decisions will need to be made on who is responsible for recruitment. Possible recruiting methods would include:

• a selection process conducted by the electoral management body, either as a centrally controlled exercise or devolved to local management areas;

• nomination of staff from other state agencies;

• use of external specialist recruitment agencies to advertise and select applicants for acceptance by the electoral management body.

Where large numbers of staff are required, combinations of methods may need to be employed.

Recruitment Integrity

Integrity and accountability of the recruitment process will be enhanced by establishing recruitment procedures that:

• promote transparency through documented selection of staff on the basis of public criteria;

• avoid corruption and political bias in appointments;

• establish clear contractual obligations between the electoral management body and its temporary voting operations staff;

• Provide a basis for financial probity. To promote integrity, it is important that all voting operations staff appointments are made by the electoral management body. Even where voting operations staff is nominated for appointment by other agencies or bodies, the final selection and approval of staff appointments should rest with the electoral management body.

Staff Qualifications and Standards

Staff recruited for voting operations functions must be capable of providing a procedurally accurate, efficient, and impartial service of high quality to voters. The criteria that persons must satisfy to be employed for voting operations, tests and standards should confirm certain basic qualities in a candidate, such as:

• impartiality;

• basic arithmetic accuracy;

• basic literacy;

• materials control skills;

• ability to communicate with the public;

• experience in a voting operations or similar environment;

• ability to follow procedures;

• ability to work accurately under pressure;

• positive attitudes to responsibility and service.

(For further discussion of criteria and standards for recruitment of voting operations staff, see Recruitment Standards.)

Community Representation

In addition to ability, impartiality, and attitude, recruitment criteria for voting operations staff should also promote the selection of staff who are representative of the community. This would require that staff be engaged wherever possible from the local area.

Additional measures may need to be taken to encourage employment of staff from minority communities, different language groups, and those who--through caste, gender, nationality, lack of employment history, or physical impairment--may often be overlooked for public sector employment. In elections held following intense inter-communal conflict, criteria may include a requirement that equal members of each community be appointed to all voting operations locations.

General Public Policy

Recruitment of voting operations staff must abide by government public sector policies on equality of employment opportunity or targeting of disadvantaged groups, such as the unemployed, for employment. This should be balanced with ensuring that they do not conflict with impartiality and integrity standards required of voting operations staff.

As a major employment exercise, recruitment of voting station staff can assist in broadening employment opportunities for population segments who may, in the social environment, lack other opportunities for employable skill acquisition.

This can particularly apply to encouraging the employment of women and in fostering local recruitment in lesser developed areas. Using voting operations recruitment as an agent of social policy or change may incur higher short-term training costs specific to the election, but may reap substantial and sustainable social benefits.

Numbers of Staff Required

The prime concern of the recruitment process is the timely recruitment of sufficient numbers of staff required for each voting operations function and location, including:

• temporary administrative assistance;

• voting station staff;

• staff for special voting facilities;

• counting staff, with careful consideration of whether voting station staff should be used for the count or whether additional staff should be engaged;

• staff for logistics and other support.

As with most other voting operations resources, the basic factor in determining how many staff will be required is the number of registered voters to be serviced. In determining cost-effective numbers of staff, consideration should include the following:

• the number of voting stations and other voting facilities to be staffed and the number of voters expected to use each of these;

• contingency staff reserves required;

• time frames and deadlines for completion of tasks;

• definition of particular staff roles and levels;

• cost considerations, particularly in situations where there may be a choice of engaging additional staff, with associated additional training costs, or paying higher rates in overtime to a smaller number of core staff;

• capacity for effective supervision;

• any general state policies that must be followed - for example in using temporary election staffing to provide some employment to large numbers of the generally unemployed.

Unless there is sufficient competent supervisory capacity, engaging larger numbers of staff may decrease the quality of service and output. The intended effects on speed of processing may be illusory. While recruiting the unemployed may not be generally cost-effective, or conducive to quality, this may serve broader social goals.

Staffing Models

Numbers of staff required can be most effectively calculated by using models of each phase of the operations--in terms of service standards, levels of service, activity timing--to develop basic staffing needs for each location and adjusting these for any specific circumstances at the local level. This approach is preferable to an ad hoc approach.  The numbers recruited should not only cover the defined staff needs, but should also include some allowance for contingencies, such as replacement of staff who fail to complete training satisfactorily or who are unable to work when required.

Continuity

Costs of training can be contained and service levels to voters enhanced, if there is a commitment to retaining the services of experienced and competent voting operations staff who have been employed at previous elections. At the very least, this will require maintenance between elections of accessible records and data bases of staff appointments and performance evaluations. Additional measures may also assist in staff retention, such as:

• encouraging voting operations staff to advice of changes of address; voting station staff experience could also be tracked in voter registration information.

• regular communications with voting operations staff through newsletters. This can assist in future training by providing news of changes in voting frameworks and procedures. It can also enhance staff motivation by communicating to temporary staff that they are valued members of the electoral management process.

• judicious use of incentives, such as promotion to more senior voting station staff positions, employment in other electoral activities such as voter registration, or possibly even retention bonuses.

Staff retention will be an easier task where there are permanent bodies with electoral management responsibilities. To maintain records on all staff employed can be an onerous task, particularly where computerised staffing records are not available. While this would deliver the maximum benefits to service enhancement, it may not be possible to maintain continuous records for all staff in environments where capacities are very limited.

It is crucial that efforts are made to retain the services of voting station managers and other senior voting station staff who have satisfactorily performed supervisory responsibilities. Without this core of experienced staffing, the already heavy training and management burdens will be increased, and voting operations performance is likely to suffer.

In some jurisdictions, strict employment preference is given to those with previous voting operations experience. Where adequate records of former staff and their performance exist, this is a cost-effective method of recruitment.

However, voting station staff who have not performed satisfactorily should not be re-employed. Such a policy needs to be applied flexibly, so as not to exclude new workers with better skills and ability. Giving strict employment preference to those with voting operations experience will not be the appropriate recruitment methodology in environments where there have been major changes to the right to vote entitlements or where past recruitment practices have been discriminatory.

Recruitment Standards

To ensure that voting operations staff with appropriate skills and other relevant attributes are selected through the recruitment process, defined criteria must be developed against which the abilities and attitudes of potential voting station staff can be measured. While this may seem an overly bureaucratic process defining comprehensive criteria will serve to:

• identify those with relevant experience and abilities suited to particular voting operations tasks;

• eliminate potential staff whose impartiality may be questioned;

• allow elimination of potential staff who are not qualified under the legislation or rules for the election to be engaged for voting operations;

• encourage the recruitment of voting operations staff who are representative of the communities which they are serving;

• provide transparent benchmarks to aid in combating corruption in appointments

Overall, criteria must ensure that only people with the ability to achieve competencies in implementing technical procedures following training are offered employment. This reduces wastage and increases the efficiency of training programs.

Criteria for Employment

The skills and qualities that are required of voting operations staff are those which will enable them to:

• implement voting procedures accurately under pressure;

• provide a courteous and effective service to voters and the public;

• perform all tasks with impartiality and integrity. In developing systems for assessing the suitability of applicants for voting operations staff positions, there are some general criteria that would be useful to apply.

In designing application documents or interviews for voting operations staff positions and evaluation reports on applicants it would be prudent to address the following general criteria:

Avalability. Applicants must be available to work during the periods they may be assigned voting operations duties, and be available for and willing to undertake the training required.

Personal qualities of integrity, reliability, willingness to accept responsibility, and accountability are necessary in voting operations staff. In some areas, senior voting station staff ,in particular, may need to be persons who command the respect of the community.

Basic skills. Applicants should possess basic skills that would indicate their ability to understand and implement voting procedures accurately following training. Skills that are important include:

• numeracy and arithmetic skills;

• good literacy skills, for senior voting station staff

• the ability to maintain and sort materials accurately;

• the ability to use equipment (including vehicles) relevant to the position;

• the ability to comprehend and implement instructions and procedures.

Practical testing of these skills prior to offering employment (e.g., through exercises such as finding names in a sample voter’s register, numeric and alphabetical sorting, and simple arithmetic tests) can be useful in eliminating unsuitable applicants.

Self-motivation, self-reliance, and stamina. As many voting operations activities must be completed within tight deadlines, applicants should demonstrate they possess the motivation and ability to complete tasks on time and to maintain stamina and accuracy under pressure. The ability to work effectively without constant supervision is also necessary.

Good health and eyesight standards are required. Effective inter-personal communication skills are an integral part of providing a quality service to voters. This requires not only oral and written communication skills in the official language of the area, but personal qualities of diplomacy, tact, and composure under pressure in dealing with the public and fellow workers. Fluency in any minority language(s) used in the area is an additional skill that will enhance service.

Prior experience. Applicants would preferably be able to demonstrate some prior experience in an area of work that requires similar skills and personal qualities. as voting operations. This could be previous satisfactory performance of voting operations duties (which should be verified by reference to staff evaluation records from earlier elections) or in other work requiring similar accuracy and customer service skills.

In areas of high long-term unemployment, application of an experience criterion may negatively affect balanced representation. Use of more intensive basic skills testing and training, and reference to educational standards achieved, would be more appropriate.

Other Considerations

There are a number of other standards that will need to be considered in developing recruitment criteria for voting operations staff. These would include:

• whether staff must be independent of any political activity, or whether a balance of political interest is sought 

• any circumstances that would disqualify a person from employment

• whether staff should hold particular educational or professional qualifications 

• the employment of staff who are representative of the community within which they will be working (see Representativeness).

Criteria Sensitive to Staff Functions

Criteria and levels of achievement against criteria may need to be different for particular voting operations staff positions. For example, additional criteria regarding initiative and management ability would be appropriate for those in charge of voting stations; on the other hand staff temporarily employed to assist with logistics or packaging materials may not need as highly developed inter-personal communications skills as those working in voting stations. Some functions such as marking a voter’s hand with ink would not require good visual ability, whereas this is a requirement for most other voting staff positions.

In developing environments, particularly those where literacy levels may be lower, skills requirements on recruitment may need to be relaxed to ensure community representation in voting station staff, with basic skill enhancement achieved through a more intensive training process.

Representativeness and independence of staff

There are some jurisdictions that aim for political balance in staff in each voting station rather than appointing non-partisan staff. Under these systems, staff could be nominated by:

• political parties for appointment by the electoral management body, or

• in seeking applications for voting station staff positions, the electoral management body could require applicants to identify their political allegiance. Under such systems, legal frameworks for staff appointment could be based on:

• appointing an equal number of staff from each of the major political parties to each voting station;

• appointments of staff from each political party according to the proportions of votes cast or representatives elected at the last election.

Effects on Efficiency and Impartiality

This method of recruitment can create some difficulties in achieving efficiency and impartiality of voting station operations. For example:

• staff with a strong emotional commitment to particular political contestants could too easily confuse the role of looking after political participants' interests with that of providing a neutral service to voters, leading to later challenges to voting station activities.

• combating perceptions of potential bias may lead to inefficiencies in staffing levels and voter service through the need to have different political participants' nominees present when any possibly contentious activities--such as assisting voters to vote, providing voter information, calculating ballot reconciliations, challenges to voter eligibility--occurs.

• some staffing models of this nature may exclude staff aligned to all but the two major political participants and may give rise to perceptions of collusion in any decisions against minor parties or independent candidates.

Transitional Elections

There are some few circumstances where achieving a political or community balance in voting operations staff may be the most practicable staffing method available. In some environments, the level of political activism may be such that it is not possible to select sufficient staff who are perceived as being politically inactive.

Particularly where elections are held as a transitional mechanism in countries emerging from inter-communal conflict, it may not be possible to select voting operations staff who are perceived by all participants as capable of being neutral or impartial. Levels of inter-communal trust can be close to non-existent, and membership in a particular nationality or community embodies perceptions of political bias.

In such situations, staffing voting stations through pairing of staff from opposed communities or political factions may not be cost-effective, but it may be a useful means of promoting all communities' acceptance of how voting procedures are implemented.

Disqualifications from Employment

Impartiality is a major qualification for employment as a voting operations staff member.Persons who do not formally agree to adhere to the code of conduct (see Codes of Conduct for Voting Operations Staff), or other statements declaring that they will act in an impartial manner in carrying out their duties, would not be suitable for appointment.

Political Activism

Where the focus is on appointing non-partisan voting operations staff, there may be an exclusion of potential staff on the grounds of political activism. In some jurisdictions this would exclude not only those who are members of political organisations with an interest in the election outcome, but also those who are perceived as being an active public participant in political or electoral affairs.

This could include persons listed as nominators on nomination documents or as supporters on petitions or other documents for party registration. Under such systems, checks in this regard will need to be made of all potential appointees.

Voter Registration

It is common practice that to be considered for voting station staff employment, applicants must be registered voters in the locality in which they are seeking employment. This has advantages in promoting local representation in voting station staff and requiring some displayed interest in the electoral process as a prerequisite for employment.

Nepotism

In some jurisdictions there may also be a ban on more than one member of the same direct family, or any relatives, from being appointed as officials in the same voting station or electoral district, or being employed as temporary voting operations staff in the same administrative area. While an efficient deterrent to nepotistic corruption of employment, such bans may disbar effective and well-qualified potential staff.

Requirements for transparent approval of staff appointments, rather than inflexible disqualification of family members or associates from employment, would be more effective.

Educational Qualifications

In some jurisdictions, defined educational or professional qualifications are the major criterion for appointment to some or all voting operations staff positions.

Setting reasonable minimum education standard may be a useful way of ensuring that staff members possess the basic skills required, particularly for those whose work histories may be non-existent or an unreliable measure.

Potential Restrictive Effects

Requiring professional qualifications for temporary voting station staff may unduly restrict employment opportunity and is often an inappropriate response to problems caused by lack of properly defined procedures. For example, in some jurisdictions, senior voting station staff are required to hold legal qualifications. Yet, lawyers may not be the most appropriate managers of staff for voter service quality.

Any problems of election law that arise during voting would be better solved by reference to a comprehensive standard procedures manual, backed by access to consistent legal advice. To allow voting station managers and other voting station staff to interpret election law, whatever their legal experience, can lead to controversial inconsistencies.

Technical Staff

Where temporary staff are engaged for administrative or technical support functions, requirements for professional qualifications may be entirely appropriate (for example, where temporary support staff are needed to maintain or operate financial or computer-based systems).

Recruitment Action Plan

Action plans for recruitment of the required number of voting operations staff need to define:

• responsibilities for recruitment and appointment,

• recruitment timing so that staff are appointed and trained in time to undertake their tasks, and

• A methodology for recruitment that ensures that the best available quality staff are appointed in a transparent manner. For discussions of these issues, see the following:

• Recruitment Methodology;

• Transparency in Recruitment;

• Nature of Appointment Contracts and Staff Appointment Documentation;

• Contingency Staff;

• Training of Voting Operations Staff.

Recruitment Planning

The sheer numbers of staff that are required for voting operations means that planning of recruitment needs to be meticulous and detailed in its approach. National elections are likely to be one of the largest staff recruitment exercises undertaken in a country. The major steps in planning recruitment of voting operations staff include:

• determining recruitment responsibilities;

• implementing publicity campaigns for employment of temporary voting operations staff through the use of media, civic and voter educators, and publicly available information pamphlets;

• maintaining applications received for voting operations staff positions;

• assessment of applicants or nominated staff against criteria for requisite voting operations positions;

• determination of numbers of staff required for voting stations and other special voting facilities, including contingency reserve staff (see Contingency Staff);

• selection and training of the appropriate staff;

• formal appointment of staff to defined staffing positions and their allocation to specific voting station locations or reserve duties.

Recruitment Responsibilities

Best practice requires that the formal appointment of staff would be the responsibility of the electoral management body.

Electoral management bodies may not have the resources or expertise to recruit all staff from a central point for the entire election. Centralised recruitment may also not be the appropriate model to allow effective use of local knowledge of employment environments and suitable potential staff, or quick and appropriate response to particular local needs.

Adopting a model whereby the bulk of recruitment is devolved to a regional or electoral district level can have significant advantages. Where electoral management bodies are temporary, a full cascade recruitment process--in which the central electoral management body recruits electoral district managers and, these in turn, recruit their voting station, counting, and administrative assistance staff--will reduce the load on central administrators. In some cases, particularly where administrative districts cover large geographic areas, it may be more effective for voting station managers to recruit their own voting station staff. In such decentralised systems there will need to be monitoring and review of local recruitment processes to ensure that quality and impartiality standards for staff are met and that recruitment processes are being applied in a transparent manner. (For further discussion of recruitment methods, see Recruitment Methodology.)

External Assistance

The electoral management body may not have sufficient resources to undertake the entire recruitment process without external assistance. Using external alternatives, such as contracting out recruitment to specialist employment agencies or automatically accepting nominations from other state authorities for voting operations staff, may be seen to compromise staffing integrity.

In such instances the electoral management body should retain control of final selection of staff.

However, where a full selection process is undertaken with applications and interviews of all those applying for employment, specialist agencies may be of assistance at the shortlisting stage in assessing and ranking applicants.

Nomination and seconding of state agencies' and local government authorities' staff for voting operations positions can provide core staff with dependable relevant skills. Responsibilities for final selection and appointments should still reside with officers within the electoral management structure specifically authorised to engage staff.

Timing of Recruitment

Recruitment processes must be firmly tied to the election timetable o deliver sufficient trained staff by the dates their services will be required. The appropriate timing for recruitment will depend largely on:

• The election system. Where elections are held at fixed, regular intervals, staff recruitment should be integrated into continuous election planning. It can be initiated some months prior to the known voting date.

Where election dates are flexible, or an election is being held to resolve a period of social conflict, recruitment strategies need to be initiated as soon as possible after the date the election is announced. In all cases, recruitment must be completed in time to allow training of voting station and counting staff to be completed around seven days prior to the election.

• The organisational management structure of the electoral management body. Where there are no permanent staff, or agents, of the electoral management body at the local level, there will generally be a need to recruit highly skilled electoral district managers, or local election commissions, to manage voting operations in each electoral district or for subdivisions of electoral districts.

In these circumstances, recruitment will need to be undertaken in at least two phases--an initial phase to put a local supervisory management structure into place and a later phase for the bulk of staff required for voting station and count duties.

• The methodology adopted for recruitment. If staff members at all levels are to be recruited in a single centralised process, this may be less efficient time-wise than distributing recruitment responsibilities to the local level. The recruitment period may also be compressed where active contact is maintained with staff from previous elections, rather than having to start recruitment anew for each election, or where the bulk of voting station staff are seconded from other government agencies.

The rigorousness of the selection process for new staff will also affect the time that is needed to finalise recruitment. Earlier commencement of recruitment will be required where a fully transparent merit selection process involving review of applications for employment and/or interviews with applicants is implemented.

• The range of voting services to be provided. Under voting frameworks that allow early voting there will be a requirement for some voting station staff to be trained for duties in advance of voting day. Depending on the numbers involved, and the length of the period allowed for early voting, it may be considered useful to recruit these staff members at an earlier time than those required only for the general voting day.

• The overall numbers of temporary staff required, as well as the resources available to apply to recruitment processes.

• The need for temporary administrative assistance for voting operations functions in staff servicing functions, such as payroll management, logistics organisation and control, and materials packaging.

As these tasks will need to be undertaken well in advance of voting day, and may require different skills, , earlier recruitment drive could be considered to fill such positions.

Recruitment Methodology

To ensure that an appropriate method of recruitment is in place, the electoral management body must determine responsibilities for recruitment and qualifications required for staff, and determine:

• the methods for making initial contact with potential staff;

• how applicants are to be assessed as suitable and selected for available positions;

• the method by which staff are to be formally appointed and contracted;

• how to monitor the numbers of staff appointed to ensure that all staffing requirements are satisfied.

Initial Contact

In recruiting voting operations staff, there are various ways initial approaches can be made. The approach taken will be influenced by factors such as:

• whether there is a contactable pool of experienced staff from past elections;

• whether there have been changes in the electoral system, eligibility to vote, or redistricting.

Methods of contact could include:

• direct written or other personal contact with potential staff;

• targeting particular professional groups which may have the qualifications necessary for voting station staff or be particularly suited to voting operations duties;

• seeking recommendations of potential staff from community, civic, and occupational groups;

• inviting seconding or nominations of staff from other state agencies;

• advertising voting operations vacancies through community or mass media, meetings, and public information campaigns;

• requesting civic educators to identify potential staff;

• requesting voting station managers to recruit staff for their voting station.

Direct Contact

Where a contactable pool of experienced voting operations officials exists, direct written or other personal contact with potential staff can be the most cost-effective way to recruit most staff. However, without effective mechanisms for evaluating staff performance at previous elections, the cost-effectiveness may be illusory.

Reliance solely on this method can also lead to a restricted field of potential voting station officials. New candidates with better competencies may not get the chance to prove themselves, and any past restrictive patterns of employment with regard to gender, minority groups, or groups only recently eligible to vote, may be perpetuated.

Targeting Specific Groups

Occupational groups that may have skills relevant to voting operations would include lawyers, educators, state employees, bank employees, and local municipal staff. There may be advantages in targeting particular professional or occupational groups, particularly in less literate societies, where in some geographic areas there may be a limited number of individuals with the ability to perform voting operations functions.

Teachers may be a rich source of voting operations staff, because they will often have the advantage of site familiarity (and perhaps an enhanced ability to assist with site equipment and facilities) where school locations are used as voting sites.

Seeking Recommendations

Civic and community groups, particularly in areas of lower employment, may be well placed to recommend those with skills appropriate for voting operations employment. Similarly, occupational and employment groups or societies may have significant local knowledge of potential staff. Recommended staff could either contact, or be contacted by, voting operations administrators to establish their interest.

Where the staffing framework requires the appointment of independent staff, political organisations should not be approached for recommendations of suitable staff. Some jurisdictions present the names of the appointed staff to political party liaison committees in the interests of consensus and to proactively address potential problems or perceptions of bias.

Seconding of Staff

There may be risks in accepting direct nominations for voting operations staff positions from other state or judicial authorities. Where institutional political neutrality is not well established, this can lead to public perceptions of lack of impartiality on the part of the electoral management body. If such nominations are provided, the electoral management body must still test these applicants against the qualifications required for voting operations duties--most importantly, political neutrality--and have the authority to accept or reject each applicant.

Use of employees of other state organisations, however, can be a cost-effective method of staffing voting operations. Secondment from other state authorities may incur little in apparent additional costs, since these costs remain with the seconding agencies. Particularly if voting day is on a normal work day for such employees, the staffing costs for voting stations can appear to be minimised, but the true cost of the staff is the their absence form their normal work duties.

Employees of other state organisations may bring familiarity with basic bureaucratic processes, such as how to use communications systems, deal with people, notions of accountability and public service, and adherence to process to the voting operations process. These competencies can assist voting operations, particularly in developing countries., Alternatively these skills may need to be instilled in other potential staff. Thus, using employees of other state organisations may lead to savings in training and performance enhancement costs.

There may also be opportunities for the secondment of staff from private sector employers that could be pursued. This could support the administration or implementation of highly skilled generalist technical functions--such as logistics and auditing--where relevant skills are not available within the electoral management body.

Public Advertising

Advertising for voting operations officials through community or mass media, meetings, and public information campaigns promotes transparency and equity in the recruitment process and can provide a wide pool of potential staff from a diverse range of cultural and geographic backgrounds.

The downside of this is that it may create extra workloads in assessing the suitability of all applicants.

Recommendations from Civic Educators

Requesting civic educators to identify potential staff during their visits to communities can be particularly effective in geographic areas where the electoral management body does not have a permanent administrative presence. It can also decrease the staff selection workload, since potential staff have already been screened by persons with some knowledge of election processes and staff duties.

Recruitment by Voting Station Managers

Using a "cascade" system of recruitment, in which the electoral management body recruits voting station managers, who are then responsible for recruiting their own staff, can significantly disperse recruitment workloads and ease the pressure on election administration staff. It also provides another layer of accountability and ownership of management duties for voting station managers. It can be a useful method for recruiting officials for voting stations in more remote areas.

However, it can make quality control of the recruitment ocess more challenging. As with other methods of recruitment, the actual approval of employment of these voting station officials should remain with specified staff of the electoral management body.

Applications for Employment

People, particularly those who were not previously employed for voting operations duties, should provide some form of application. In general, such applications should be written and require an indication of the applicant's abilities for the qualifications required (see Recruitment Standards).

In areas of low literacy, where equity considerations have modified literacy requirements for voting station staff undertaking less responsible positions, meetings of potential staff may need to be organised and application and selection proceedings may be conducted verbally.

Selecting Staff to be Offered Employment

Staff for voting operations should be selected strictly according to the qualifications necessary for the functions that they will have to perform (see Recruitment Standards).

It is preferable that there is some method of assessing the quality of potential voting operations staff before employment is offered, rather than discovering unsuitability during training, with the attendant additional costs of rejection at that stage. Assessment could be made in the following ways:

• where the applicant has previously worked in elections, review any assessments made of their performance;

• where there is no such history, administer an examination that tests the applicant's experience and skills against the required qualifications and voting operations duty descriptions.  Special arrangements for assessment will need to be made if there are representativity considerations requiring employment of illiterate or semi-literate persons for some positions.

It is important that the selection process be conducted in a transparent manner (see Transparency in Recruitment). Depending on time and other limitations, applicants would preferably be met and interviewed before any decision on offering them employment is made.

Offers of employment should generally be made according to order of ranking against the qualifications required, though this may need to be modified in order to meet representativeness criteria. Where any such modification of merit selection is made, any representativeness criteria applied should be publicly available and transparent.

Appointment of Staff

Staff appointed to voting operations positions should receive a formal contract for their services. (For contract offers and confirmation documentation, see Staff Appointment Documentation. For issues to be considered in developing staff contract contents, see Nature of Appointment Contracts)

Contingency Staff

The number of staff selected needs to account not only for the identified positions to be filled but also for potential contingencies (see Contingency Staff). Recruitment should identify sufficient excess staff to be trained to cover for:

• staff who drop out or are otherwise found to be unsuitable during the training phase;

• staff who become unavailable for personal or other reasons between the time of recruitment and voting day;

• voting day contingencies. Sufficient staff should be formally appointed to cover voting day contingencies, relating to:

• voter turnout where historic data or flexibility in voting methods available do not allow accurate prediction of voter turnout or voting peaks at all voting stations;

• staff absences or failures to report for duty on voting day.

Monitoring

After the number of vacancies for staff in various categories (for voting stations, ballot counting centres, administrative support) has been established, monitoring systems are necessary to ensure that staff allocations proceed efficiently and that any additional recruitment action or review of previously unsuccessful applicants can be implemented in a timely fashion. Such monitoring would include tracking:

• staff who have accepted positions against locations;

• vacancies remaining;

• satisfactory training completion;

• reserve staff.

Given the likely time constraints on the recruitment process, it is also vital that basic administrative controls are effectively executed to ensure that the correct offer and contract documentation is sent to, and is returned from, all the correct individuals at the correct time.

Transparency in Recruitment

In recruiting voting operations staff, strict adherence to guidelines that promote transparency in the appointment process is necessary. The basic guarantees of transparency are in the application of the following:

• publicly disclosed selection criteria for positions;

• a documented process of selection through equitable, written assessment of applicants against the relevant selection criteria, with reasons provided for decisions to employ or not to employ;

• a procedure for open and equitable resolution of any complaints about voting operations staff selection processes.

Transparency will be further enhanced by a genuine public invitation for applications for employment as voting operations staff.

Ensuring transparency in recruitment will create some additional workload in soliciting applications, screening the applications, and then conducting a proper selection process.

The most compelling benefit of transparency in recruitment is that it promotes public confidence in the impartiality and skill of voting operations officials, and it assists the effective operation of voting stations and count centres by selection of the most qualified available staff.

Transparency is also necessary to ensure that:

• the appointment process is not manipulated so voting station staff who will support a particular political viewpoint in their official duties are appointed;

• patronage in voting station staff appointments does not result in the engagement of staff who do not have the ability to undertake their tasks.

Patronage or Financial Gain

Large numbers of staff need to be recruited as voting station and counting officials. There can be a temptation, particularly where recruitment is decentralised, to appoint family members, friends, or associates, regardless of their suitability for the positions. In regions of high unemployment, where voting operations employment may be the only paid work opportunity available for some time, the temptation is greater.

(This is a different scenario from that where official government policy may reasonably give preference to suitably qualified unemployed persons as voting station official recruits.) Different jurisdictions take different approaches to prevent patronage and particularly nepotism in voting station official appointments, resulting in the appointment of unsuitable staff. When determining appropriate controls, the desirable recruitment outcome must be considered--to engage persons who are most effective at undertaking the required tasks in an impartial manner, and whose appointment is free of corruption. Who a prospective voting station official knows or is related to need not necessarily be a hindrance to recruitment.

The basic control is in the intensity of regional or central monitoring of the recruitment process: in ensuring that those selected for training meet formally defined basic skill criteria, and that any complaints about bias in recruitment are reviewed openly and quickly.

Secondary controls are at the training stage, where unsuitable patronage recruits may be disqualified (this could be an ineffective control in cascade training systems, where the trainer and the recruiter may well be the same person).

Particular controls against nepotism in recruitment of voting operations staff used in some jurisdictions include:

• prohibition of relatives working within the same voting station;

• prohibition of employment of relatives by administrators or voting station officials with recruitment responsibilities. While such prohibitions aid the perception of integrity in recruitment, they may harshly preclude well-qualified potential voting station officials.

Perceptions of integrity would be equally well served by requiring that the selection process provide proof of superior merit, accompanied by approval of appointment by an independent senior electoral management body official.

Political Influence

There are two basically opposed concepts of how to control political influence in voting station official appointments. In most environments, the more effective model is to ensure freedom from political influence in selection of voting station officials by:

• overall transparency in recruitment processes as detailed above;

• specific disqualification of any person who is a member of a political party, an active supporter of any political party or candidate for election, or has taken an active role in the political campaign for the election.

While these disqualifications are an integrity/transparency check on recruitment, care must be taken that they are not used in a partisan manner to unfairlyprevent people with alleged connections to opposition parties from serving as voting station officials. The checks against this lie in the recruitment process meeting overall transparency requirements and in the independence of complaint and review mechanisms.

Control of political influence within staff appointments is of a different nature in systems where voting station officials are appointed on the basis of their affiliation with a political party. Rigorous mechanisms are required to ensure that at each voting station, different political interests are equitably represented amongst voting station staff.

This is a system that may be appropriate in societies where, historically, impartial decisions have been reached through the checks and balances provided by competing interests, with a strong background of institutional integrity, and where there are few stable organised political forces.

In other environments, it is generally not a suitable mechanism. It relies on political checks and balances at a voting station level that due to the speed of occurrences may be difficult to apply. It can also exclude representatives of any emerging parties, or independent candidates, from appointment as voting station officials. It may also require the appointment of more voting station officials, and hence higher costs, than would otherwise be necessary, so that significant actions can only be taken by officials of opposite party acting together. Political participants are generally better served through appointing representatives to monitor the work of voting station officials.

Post-Conflict Environments

In post conflict situation is may be most practicable to appoint voting station officials as representatives of particular political interests, where they act as checks and balances on each other and enhance community acceptance of the integrity of voting operations. In post-conflict environments, where the conflict has been nationality or party based, there is little likelihood of the acceptance by the whole community of the independence of any appointed voting station official.

Appointment of equal numbers of officials on a nationality or party basis to each voting station, and ensuring that procedures require consultation and agreement between the various interests represented may be the most practicable, though not efficient, means of neutralising inherent community distrusts.

Traditional Societies

In areas still under traditional leadership, or in societies where there are strong familial support responsibilities or powers of official patronage and allegiance still held by clan leaders, it may be difficult to impose open and transparent selection on voting station official recruitment.

An independent selection of voting station officials should still be attempted through negotiation with traditional authorities. A possible solution may be to negotiate to bring in some voting station officials from outside the area. This will assist in providing checks, balances, and expertise in voting station operations.

However, if this is not possible, the —option to bring in full teams of transparently appointed voting station officials from outside the area--may have negative affects on election co-operation, voter turnout, and ability to provide voter service in the area. It should only be contemplated after very careful consideration of its possible effects.

The only effective solutions may be to pay special attention to impartiality issues during training, and strictly monitor voting station and count operations, by the electoral management body, party and candidate representatives, and observers.

The Nature of Appointment Contracts

In constructing offers of employment and appointment or contract documents for voting operations staff, there are issues both for the protection of staff and the protection of the electoral management body that need to be considered. These would include:

• the specification of staff duties;

• legal responsibilities of staff;

• the basis of staff payments;

• staff disciplinary provisions;

• the termination or suspension of staff

• the method by which staff accept appointment;

• any restrictions on the scope of employment;

• provisions for emergency engagement of staff.

(For further information on voting operations staff appointments, see Recruitment Methodology, and for contract offer and confirmation processes, see Staff Appointment Documentation.)

Specification of Duties

The duties which staff are expected to undertake should be specified. However, this should be done in a manner that allows some flexibility in staff duties, by including a clause that staff may be required to undertake additional or different duties at the direction of supervisors.

Where an individual is contracted for clearly separate duties, particularly if at different remuneration rates--e.g., as a voting operations administrative assistant and as a voting station official on voting day--the contractual obligations for each position would be better specified in separate appointments.

Legal Responsibilities

Any legal responsibilities of staff should be clearly described in documentation provided with their appointments.

While this may not be relevant for lower level staff engaged in, say, packaging of election materials, it is particularly important where local managerial staff, for example, electoral district managers or local election commissions with legally defined responsibilities for the conduct of the election within an electoral district, are temporary staff engaged on short-term contract.

Payment Basis

Appointments or contracts should not require the electoral management body to make any unnecessary payments. For temporary administrative staff, or staff assisting with early voting in person or by mail, for example, costs can generally be better contained by appointing staff for duty on an hourly basis, as required, rather than as full-time employees for a fixed period.

Voting day staff contracts are more cost-effective if written on a task completion basis, a fair flat rate for however long it takes for specified duties to be completed (especially if staff are also to undertake the count at voting stations) rather than on an hourly rate.

Disciplinary Provisions

Any disciplinary provisions must be made clear to staff when they are appointed. Any prerequisites for confirmation of employment, e.g., satisfactory performance at training, must be clearly stated in the contractual documentation provided.

Penalties for breaches of the code of conduct and any rights of the electoral management body to terminate or suspend employment should also be made clear, and reinforced during training. Staff should also be advised of any methods of challenge to decisions to penalise them regarding their performance.

Acceptance of Appointment

Appointments and contracts must be signed or personally marked by the employee and a representative of the electoral management body. No staff member should be allowed to commence duty without having signed acceptance to the appointment.

It should be made clear to staff that in signing the contract or appointment offer, staff are indicating that they fully understand its contents, their rights, and obligations. In particular, staff should sign specifically that they accept and will comply with the code of conduct (seeCodes of Conduct for Voting Operations Staff) or similar legal obligations to uphold the integrity of voting, and are not disqualified in any way from holding their appointed position.

Restricted Scope

Appointment documentation should make no indications of additional work outside the contract that may be made available.

Where public sector employment policies allow translation from temporary to permanent staff status, or require payment of additional benefits to temporary staff under length of service conditions, care should be taken in making their appointment. The nature or length of their appointment should not qualify them for unintended benefits or increase costs above budgeted levels.

Emergency Staffing Appointments

There may be emergency situations in voting stations that require swift additional recruitment and appointment action. If staff numbers are depleted and sufficient contingency staff are not available to make up the shortfall, voting station managers may have to appoint emergency staff. For this they will need both emergency powers and the provision of emergency staff appointment documents in their voting station materials.

Similarly if a voting station or count manager is taken ill or is absent for a period during voting day, it may be necessary to formally transfer the legal responsibility of the conduct of voting or the count at that location to another staff member. Mechanisms for this need to be provided.

Contingency Staff

In developing voting station staffing plans, a contingency factor should be included in the number of staff that need to be recruited to replace staff staff who drop out.

In establishing the required levels of contingency staff, consideration needs to be given to all relevant factors that may cause staff to be unavailable, including:

• personal emergencies;

• transport failures;

• unsuitability for voting station duties established during training;

• sickness or fatigue experienced during voting day.

It may also be necessary to recruit contingency staff to accommodate unexpectedly high voter turnouts at specific voting locations, depending on how flexible voting systems are with regard to voter’s choice of voting station and the percentage voter turnout basis for initial staffing allocations.

Numbers of Contingency Staff Required

The numbers of contingency staff required will vary according to environment. Previous electoral history may be some guide, but this is not necessarily relevant where there have been major changes to election systems or political environments. In stable systems, contingency reserves may only be needed at the level of one staff member to around eight to ten voting stations.

In less stable systems, where there are new participants in the voting processes and difficulties in recruiting staff with high base level skills, this may rise to as much as one or two reserve staff for each voting station. Voting operations budgets must allow for costs related to contingency staff, e.g., fees, training, and logistics support costs.

Location of Contingency Staff

On voting day contingency staff would generally be best assigned to report to the regional or local election administration office, rather than to individual voting locations. The regional or local administration office will assign then where they are needed. This may need to be varied in more remote areas and where reliable emergency transport is not available to all voting locations.

It may also be better to assign reserve staff to the voting station location in environments where general public communication systems are poor or where history or current circumstances indicates the likelihood of significant levels of failure to report for duty by voting station officials.

Generic Voting Station Officials

Contingency staff are more cost-effectively recruited at the base voting station official level. Contingency staff should generally be treated in the same way as other voting station officials.

They should all receive the same training, and where required to report for duty on voting day, be paid at least a retainer as a voting station official, even if not required to work. Contingency staff may cost-effectively be used for other localised tasks if not required for voting station duties on voting day--for example, administrative assistance in operations centres,  accompanying roving voting station officials as runners, or assisting with emergency materials control.

Voting Station Managers and Senior Voting Station Officials

Contingency staffing arrangements for voting station managers do not necessarily need to involve the recruitment of staff specifically for voting station management positions. Structuring voting station staff profiles so that there is a designated deputy in each voting station will provide a replacement in case of management drop-outs.

This could require some reassignment between neighbouring voting stations. These staff can then be replaced in their original positions from the pool of reserve voting station officials. To cover for such contingencies, staff occupying designated second-in-charge or deputy manager positions will be more effective if provided with the same level of training as voting station managers.

The appointment of senior voting operations officials as roving first-line supervisors or troubleshooters for voting stations within particular geographic areas may provide some contingency reserve for voting station managers. The appropriateness of this will be more limited in rural areas with low population density.

Additionally, if these roving officials are used as replacement voting station managers, there will be a loss of more general first-line supervisory capacities. 

Staff Appointment Documentation

Depending on the manner in which applications for voting operations staff positions are sought, offers of employment could be made either as an introductory inquiry to establish interest and availability, or as a firm offer after suitable applicants have been selected.

Whichever manner is used, there is a staged process that would preferably be followed in order to maintain effective control over staff recruitment:

• seeking applications from potential staff, or confirming interest and availability of previously experienced voting operations staff or nominated persons;

• assessment and selection of staff from those who respond;

• notices to unsuccessful applicants;

• where availability has not previously been established, or applicants applied for positions in general, rather than a specific position, sending out of offers of employment requiring confirmation of availability for the specific position;

• formal written appointment of successful applicants to a specified position--preferable with a clearly stated stipulation that formal confirmation of the position is dependent on the applicant's successfully completing the required training. Maintaining proper documentation of this process is necessary to combat any challenges to the integrity of employment decisions.

Once voting operations staff have been selected and have confirmed their willingness to be employed under the terms and codes of conduct applicable, a formal appointment or contract confirmation must be provided to each recruited staff member.

Without these, the recruitment process loses all accountability.

Staff Appointment Documentation

Contract and appointment documentation provided to staff should disclose sufficient information to establish staff rights, responsibilities, and entitlements. Relevant information that should be provided includes:

• the title of the position to which the person is to be appointed;

• general terms and conditions of employment;

• the duties and responsibilities of the position (this should be further explained in accompanying procedural documentation);

• the location, date(s), and time(s) at which the person is required to report for duty, and the duration of the employment;

• training requirements;

• code of conduct requirements, including any declarations of conduct to be signed by the employee;

• declaration of secrecy to be signed by all voting station staff

• remuneration rates and payment arrangements for both voting operations duties and training, including any tax liabilities or other contributions required;

• any additional entitlements--such as transport, accommodation, insurance, expenses--and arrangements for these;

• any specific arrangements the staff member needs to be aware of for effective conduct of duties;

• penalties for failure to comply with appointment conditions;

• contact information for inquiries;

• request for prompt confirmation of acceptance or notification of unavailability.

Other additional information may also usefully be provided with appointment documentation. For more senior staff this could include details of their appointed subordinates. For voting station managers this could include such information as delivery or collection times for equipment, voting station security arrangements, collection and return arrangements for voting station premises keys and preparation of reports.

Other Material

Delivery of staff appointment documentation, whether at meetings, through the mail, or by other delivery methods, is the most effective opportunity to provide each staff recruit with:

• a copy of their relevant procedures;

• any training prerequisites (workbooks or exercises to complete);

• specific information on any transport or accommodation arrangements made in connection with their duties.

Where, because of the location of their duties on voting day, staff will require an absentee vote, any application forms required for this should also be included with the appointment documentation.

Codes of Conduct for Voting Operations Staff

Voting operations staff have a special position of trust. There is an expectation that they will adhere to all relevant rules and regulations, and faithfully and professionally undertake their duties to provide election outcomes of high integrity.

While this is particularly true of officials conducting voting and counting ballots, it also applies to all connected with the election process, from couriers, voter educators, mail sorters, materials despatchers to senior electoral managers. For the bulk of staff involved in voting operations, this is infrequent, short-term employment, which will generally have more intensive impositions regarding ethical behaviour and impartiality than their usual activities.

Need to Develop Conduct Codes

Formal codes of conduct for voting operations staff provide them with the knowledge of the expectations of their behaviour and a basis for sanctions against them if they breach standards set in the code.

In their simplest form, codes deal only with the basic cornerstone of a free election, that is, the maintenance of the secrecy of voting, or refer to legislative requirements for ethical behaviour. However, it is preferable to provide each voting operations employee with a succinct outline of required behaviour standards in undertaking their duties.

Officials codes of conduct could be:

• an integral part of the legislative framework for the election, backed by the sanctions contained in this framework;

• an administrative direction from the electoral management body, backed by reference to sanctions in electoral legislation and/or in legislation governing the conduct of public officials generally.

Provision of Code to Officials

The code, examples of how it is maintained in practice, and information on disciplinary mechanisms and penalties for proven breaches, should be provided to persons seeking employment as voting operations officials.

It should be fully explained to all successful applicants during training sessions. Officials should also be provided with extracts from electoral legislation or regulations that provide the legal framework for their particular duties and that underpin the requirements of the code.

Content of Codes Of Conduct

Codes of conduct for voting operations employees deal with the following major issues:

• impartiality, integrity, and professionalism in dealing with voting operations matters;

• maintaining security of election materials and secrecy of voting;

• standards of service to be provided. Wording of codes should be such that they are applicable to all voting operations staff.

Content of codes of conduct for voting operations staff would usefully include requirements that staff:

• undertake to maintain the secrecy and integrity of voting at all times by not disclosing any knowledge of a voter's voting intentions or observed voting behaviour;

• maintain impartial and non-partisan conduct at all times--including acting in an impartial and non-partisan manner at all times; not attempting to influence or communicate with any voter on political issues; doing nothing, either in a personal or official capacity that could be seen to indicate by action (including the wearing of any politically associated apparel), attitude, manner, or speech support for any political participant or tendency; not undertaking activities that could be perceived to involve conflict of interests, and reporting any relationships that could be perceived as potential conflicts of interests;

• not commit or attempt any act of corruption--including a ban on accepting inducements to act in a particular way, on accepting any gifts, favours or promise of reward from political participants or their supporters (the code may also require an active stance against corruption--to report, oppose, and combat any act of corruption discovered in the course of their duties);

• accept the authority and direction of the electoral management body over officials' actions;

• perform all duties and functions with care, competence, accuracy, and courtesy;

• maintain secrecy of the voting operations and respect the confidentiality of the voters;

• treat all members of the public with dignity;

• reject and report any form of discrimination, in relation to voting operations administration or political activity for the elections, based on race, gender, ethnicity, language, class, or religion;

• accept the rights of accredited party or candidate

• representatives and observers to observe voting operations processes, and the rights of voters, political participants and accredited observers to object to irregular procedures, and investigate such objections with courtesy, tact, integrity, and timeliness;

• undertake to safeguard all electoral material entrusted to their care;

• undertake, unless good cause can be shown, to attend all training sessions or meetings in connection with their duties, and report for duty as directed.

Post-Conflict Environments

In post-conflict environments, voting operations officials may be dealing with other officials and political participants with whom, only recently, they were in violent conflict. Officials' codes of conduct in such environments may need to extend their range of content to commit officials to specific undertakings, such as to:

• cooperate with all authorities in delivery of election materials and services;

• acknowledge the authority of international supervisors and not impede their work;

• not impede campaign activities of any political participants or interfere with the electoral rights of any person;

• assist monitors, observers, and supervisors in carrying out their duties;

• assist in ensuring, within any boundaries established in the legal framework for the election, the freedom of movement of all participants in the election.

Declarations by Employees

Before being formally appointed to voting operations positions, all staff should be required to make a declaration that they will follow the rules contained in their code of conduct. At the very least, if full codes of conduct have not yet been developed, a declaration that the employee will respect the secrecy of voting and relevant legislative requirements should be obtained before appointment.

There are other participants in the voting operations process to whom elements of the election staff codes of conduct should also formally apply. Official visitors to and observers in voting stations may observe the act of voting. Before accreditation to visit voting sites, they should also confirm that they will undertake to maintain the secrecy of voting. Contractors who supply election materials or are contracted for logistics, should sign brief declarations binding them to maintain election materials security and voting secrecy.

Contractors or community groups providing voting operations services, such as voter information activities, should also be bound by the impartiality, service, secrecy, and security aspects of the election official’s code.

Enforcement

A code of conduct has no effect if there are no clear avenues for its enforcement and no knowledge of penalties that will be imposed for proven breaches. There must be clear mechanisms for swift, effective, and impartial disciplinary action--of an administrative nature for less serious offences and of a criminal nature for serious misconduct.

Serious conduct would include corrupt or violent behaviour, that would be criminal in any context, or breaches of voting secrecy. It is useful for electoral legislation to provide administrative penalties for misconduct, such as immediate dismissal from employment (with appropriate safeguards of justice), that can be swiftly applied by the electoral management body.

It is important that disciplinary mechanisms and penalties are appropriate to the offence. Dealing with even minor offences solely through the court system is likely to delay resolution until after the election period, and thus lose the possibility of effective salutary action.

Courts may also be loathe to impose significant penalties for what may seem as minor breaches of administrative trust, and will generally not be the most effective means of dealing with misconduct, unless it is of a criminal nature. Any disciplinary or court actions taken, and any resulting penalties should be widely publicised.

Training of Voting Operations Staff

Training for voting operations staff is a valuable investment in the integrity of the election process. It is a necessary and integral part of each election, and ensures that all staff have the competency to apply election procedures accurately, impartially, and consistently throughout every administration office, voting station, and count centre.

It is these officials in local workplaces who make or break the election. Training for voting operations forms part of the overall training program of the electoral management body.

Competency Development

In training for voting operations, it is essential to achieve competency, which means the development of the ability of staff to implement procedures in the required manner, not just know about them. This basic objective governs the manner in which training for voting station staff is undertaken. It requires more than just a familiarity with relevant legislation. Voting station staff are engaged in a one-time event, working under intense pressure and with little latitude for error. Without an opportunity to first practice what they have to do, the risks of failure are high.

Thus, regardless of their past training or experience, voting operations staff need the opportunity, close to the election date to be trained in the actual voting-related tasks for which they will be responsible. It is immaterial whether or not staff have worked on elections previously, or that procedures should be common knowledge. Procedures and performance expectations change from election to election, and without the opportunity for constant application, learnt skills will have deteriorated.

Compulsory Training

Undertaking training should be a prerequisite for confirmation of employment as a voting operations official. This training would preferably be face-to-face.

In circumstances where this is not possible, a program of home learning through assessable workbooks will need to be substituted. Even where face-to-face session attendance is required, initiation or reinforcement of this learning through required completion of home reading and exercises will result in more effective training sessions.

The inducement to complete training properly is to make this a condition of confirmation of employment. A positive inducement is the provision of a reasonable remuneration for attendance at training sessions, for any associated travel, and for time spent on reading and completion of home training exercises.

Continuous Training Systems

Specific election training will be less daunting if voting operations staff have a more developed knowledge base. Systems of continuous training and briefings for voting operations staff can assist with this. This will require the maintenance of records of voting operations staff employed and continuing contact with them.

Stability of Legal and Procedural Framework

It is important for effective training and subsequent staff performance that laws, regulations, and procedures for voting operations are settled early and remain stable during the election period. Development of reference materials and training programs takes time. Changes to frameworks after reference materials have been finalised, and particularly after training sessions have been conducted, can only confuse staff in their actions.

Conducting emergency retraining, involving staff "unlearning" their previous training and learning the new methods, poses considerable information retention difficulties.

Planning Training Programs

Training of voting station staff is one of the largest and most concentrated training programs undertaken by any institution, and places heavy demands on organisational planning and service capacities. Proper strategic planning of training objectives, target groups, material development, and intended learning outcomes, and detailed operational planning for all training activities and their integration with other election tasks are essential.

Without such planning, training focus, effectiveness, and accountabilities are lost, and training implementation becomes haphazard.

The timing of training delivery is important to ensure that competencies are retained and that training scheduling are part of with other election priorities. Care should be taken that training is not offered to far in advance of the election date , as there may be further ongoing changes to knowledge required by the voting station staff.

Methodologies of Voting Operations Training

There are varying methodologies that could be applied for training such large numbers of staff. The use of centralised or decentralised models will depend on the training resources and time available.  Within these models, the way in which training is presented will greatly influence the effectiveness of the learning experience. Factors to be considered include:

•the training content 

• the quality of implementation of self-directed or various techniques of face-to-face presentation 

• the physical facilities and training aids used ;

• the materials available for continuous reference by voting operations staff

With such large numbers of staff to be trained in a short period, electoral management bodies may not be able to undertake training delivery from within their normal staff resources. The identification and recruitment of suitable persons for conducting voting operations staff training, (see and providing these trainers with the skill and knowledge to undertake voting operations staff training successfully can be a major task, especially where decentralised training models are used.

It is important that those employed to train staff, whether they be professional trainers, general educators, or voting operations staff themselves, are equipped both with:

• an intensive practical knowledge of voting procedures;

• the skills to transfer this knowledge and guide competency development in voting operations staff.

Monitoring and Review

The fact that voting, in most instances, occurs for a short time only, with little opportunity to correct errors, means it is essential to ensure there is confidence in the competencies of voting operations staff. This needs to be instituted at the time of training. Such measures are two-fold:

• implementing programs for assessing the knowledge of potential voting operations staff before they are actively engaged in their duties, so that ineffective staff can be identified and their employment terminated;

• monitoring and evaluating training programs and delivery

Other Organisations

Electoral management bodies can also play a role in the training of other organisations participating in voting operations. It is in their interest that representatives of parties and candidates, independent electoral observers, and security forces, in particular, are well informed on their rights, responsibilities, and the voting procedures to be implemented.

Organisation of Training

Organisation of training for voting operations staff is a massive exercise that requires clear lines of communication, accountability and control. There are two basic elements to organising training:

• defining a clear strategy for the training program, appropriate training delivery methodologies, and materials development;

• developing the detailed operational plans that define locations, identify and assign trainers, assign voting station staff to training locations, produce and distribute training and reference materials, and procure logistics needs. For more detail on:

• training strategy, see Defining Training Objectives;

• training materials development, see Training Materials, Equipment, and Sites;

• possible methodology and structures, see Training Methodology;

• content of training operational plans, see Training Plan.

Consistency of Training

No matter whether centralised or decentralised structures (see Training Methodology) are used for training delivery, there will be a need for training accountability and some organisation at a more centralised level. Voting operations staff need to deliver equitable, impartial service and follow procedures in a consistent fashion, Allowing unsupervised localised control of training will be counterproductive.

Centralised quality control, even where training is not directly administered centrally, will assist in ensuring that training standards deliver this consistency. Areas where this is essential will include:

• content of trainers and voting operations officials reference materials;

• content and presentation of training sessions;

• provision of training to all voting operations staff by scheduled dates using an appropriate training method;

• training programs for voting operations staff trainers;

• monitoring and evaluation of training performance.

It would be preferable if a standard set of training materials is produced, by the electoral management body, for use in all voting operations training. If this is not feasible, materials produced by other bodies should be approved by the electoral management body before use.

The situation becomes more complex where local electoral management bodies are empowered to make their own arrangements for the conduct of elections for higher levels of government.

Different equipment use and detail of procedures will make consistency across an election for higher levels of government and standardisation of training impossible. This is not an insurmountable problem and can be dealt with effectively by ensuring that there is some central oversight, if only advisory, to ensure that:

• an adequate level of training is provided to all officials in all jurisdictions, perhaps through a system of formal accreditation of local training programs;

• reference materials provided are accurate and emphasise the application of principles of equity, impartiality, and service, even if they may vary in procedural details.

Management of Training Implementation

Organisation of the operational details of training will generally be more effectively undertaken at a more local level. The large number of training sessions that will need to be undertaken, especially for national elections, may create decision bottlenecks if all operational decisions are made at a central level. How much can be organised locally will depend on the structure and methodology used (see Training Methodology).

Simultaneous or mobile team training methods will require greater organisation from a central level in planning training schedules, materials distribution, and often trainer transportation arrangements. However, decentralised management will generally be more responsive to local needs in the following areas:

• distribution of training materials;

• assigning staff to training sessions or if not trained face-to-face, overseeing self-directed training;

• determining appropriate training timing within scheduling limits;

• reserving training facilities and arranging for equipment;

• organisation of transportation for trainers and trainees.

Use of Skilled Trainers

An important consideration in organising training is ensuring that there are sufficient skilled trainers available to conduct training. Early identification of potential trainers will assist training implementation. No matter what their previous training or voting operations experience, trainers will require some training themselves, in relevant current procedures and/or in presentation of the training session outlines to be used.

(For more detailed discussion of this aspect of training organisation, see Training of Trainers.)

Defining Training Objectives

Development of training programs and plans for voting operations staff would start from a basis of analysing and defining:

• the overall training objective: what the electoral management body wants to achieve through training its voting operations staff;

• who needs to be trained: both in general, and any category of trainees that would increase training effectiveness and economy;

• the learning outcomes: what each person trained is expected to be able to do, and expected to know, at different stages in the election calendar and at the conclusion of training for the election;

• the coverage of voting operations staff that is aimed to be achieved: this may be by different aspects of the training program, such as continuous on-the-job training, face-to-face intensive sessions, information briefings, provision of reference or information materials, or other means.

Only by first defining these objectives can training planners develop plans (see Training Plan) and select methodologies (see Training Methodology) appropriate for the environment and effectively tailor them to resource constraints.

Expected Training Outcomes

Objectives need to be defined to ensure accountability. When determining the objectives of training, training managers and planners should also define the indicators by which they can judge whether training programs are successful. This will make evaluation of training considerably more relevant (see Evaluation of Recruitment and Training).

In defining training objectives, and indicators of performance against these, training planners are focusing on organisational outcomes, related to the principles and procedures of voting operations (see Guiding Principles of Voting Operations) Regarding training of voting operations staff, objectives would concern issues such as:

• service levels to voters;

• accuracy of ballot issue and count processes;

• impartiality and integrity of voting processes.

Individual Staff Learning Outcomes

In defining learning outcomes, the focus is on individual-oriented outcomes on a practical level:

• what competencies to perform particular tasks must training develop in specific staff;

• what capacities to deal with situations must training provide them with.

In most situations there is no need, time, or resources to transfer detailed knowledge of theoretical concepts. Required outcomes must apply a practical balance between anunderstanding of the reason why an action is done in a particular way and having the ability to apply procedures correctly.

As an example, for voting station managers, training should provide the following competencies. That they:

• know, are willing to comply with, and are aware of how particular actions may be judged in terms of the staff code of conduct;

• are able to set up a voting station according to approved layouts in a manner that will ensure efficient service to voters;

• are able to use all voting station materials and equipment;

• are able to prepare the voting station for opening according to required procedures;

• are able to apply the correct procedures for voter identification, issue of ballots, and marking and casting of ballots;

• can manage voting station personnel and materials accountability and security issues;

• know the rights and responsibilities of representatives of political parties or candidates and other observers in voting stations;

• can deal effectively with typical examples of problems and challenges likely to arise in a voting station;

• can complete all required voting station documents and reports accurately and efficiently;

• are able to close the voting station and package material according to the defined procedures;

• know communications requirements;

• can apply staff management techniques. Where voting station managers are also responsible for ballot counts at their voting stations, their training will need also to relate to;

• accuracy of ballot counts;

• rules for determining valid or invalid ballots;

• preparation of result records;

• methods of transmitting count results.

For other voting station staff, there may be a standard set of learning objectives. Where there are significant differences in staff functions and it is more effective to sub-categorise staff for training, there may still be core objectives for all staff, to which specific objectives are added for the individual staff categories with higher level or more specialised functions.

It is important to define performance indicators and targets against these objectives that are acceptable and practical expected levels of achievement. For example, one of the training performance targets for voting station officials who will be involved in establishing voter eligibility could be that, at the conclusion of training, a certain percentage of these staff can correctly find and mark a given percentage of a sample of voters on a voters list. Much as elections should be perfect, it is reality that not all staff can be trained to be perfect. Knowledge assessment techniques need to be integrated into training to enable assessment of whether adequate competencies have been achieved by each voting operations official.

Staff Target Groups for Training

Identification of who is to be trained, their numbers, and locations for training is the other major foundation of voting operations training planning. These should be realistically detemined from voting location determinations  and staffing/recruitment needs calculations. All voting operations staff should receive training.

Regarding voting station and count officials, it is also realistic to base the training focus on an assumption of zero procedural knowledge. To try to determine separate training groups according to levels of knowledge already acquired is a needlessly complicated and possibly detrimental approach. More experienced and knowledgeable trainees in groups are of assistance to trainers in group participation activities.

Consideration has to be given to whether all voting operations staff should be considered as a single group for training, or whether trainees can be usefully split into subgroups, according to levels of responsibility and functions. This latter method can generally be a more effective way of conducting training. Staff receive training only in the skills they need to have.

Information retention can be improved, as all information is totally relevant to their tasks and length of training sessions can be minimised. Such an approach would see, for example, all voting operations officials receiving training in basic procedures, with additional training modules being provided to those with particular specialised or supervisory functions.

District Election Managers

Where district election managers or local election commission members with legal responsibility for an election's conduct in an electoral district are recruited as temporary staff for an election (and thus will require intensive training), their training needs are both broader and occur earlier than those of other voting operations staff. They are an obvious separate target group for election period training.

Voting Station Managers

Voting station and count managers, and any roving voting station supervisors, would also form a separate target subgroup. Training for their responsibility levels requires different content and often different approaches from that for other voting operations staff.

Staff designated as deputies of voting stations and count centres could also be included as part of this group, as they will be the reserves who may find themselves in a managerial role during voting hours and the count. In terms of coverage of these subgroups, it is important that 100 perecnt face-to-face training coverage is achieved.

Temporary Administrative Staff

For other voting operations staff, further categorisation can be useful. Temporary staff engaged to assist with the administration of voting operations--for such tasks as assisting with staffing, materials supply and packaging--may be recruited for a single task, or multiple tasks. Depending on the complexity of their tasks, their training may be effectively accomplished by on the job briefings and guidance rather than formal training sessions.

Voting Station Officials

Further refining of target groups among voting station officials can also provide some benefits. Categorisation could target separately those staff:

• Who do not have any responsibility for contact with voters or responsibilities for ballot material--for example if staff are engaged merely to assist with material packaging or voting station/count centre set-up (for these staff a briefing immediately before commencing duties may be sufficient training);

• Whose functions are routinely procedural--such as checking voter identity, issuing ballots, guarding ballot boxes, crowd control (the bulk of voting station staff); for these staff, face-to-face sessions are highly preferable, but there may be some ability to target less than 100 percent of these staff for face-to-face coverage and still maintain quality (all such staff need to be provided with training materials, and demonstrate satisfactory knowledge of procedures);

• Whose functions require broader knowledge and greater exercise of judgment--for example, those who are acting as education or information officers; additional training for these staff in backgrounds to procedures, alternative voting methods, voter registration issues, and the like is required for them to provide an effective service (it is highly desirable that 100 percent of these staff are provided with face-to-face training);

• Who are engaged as count officials--voting station officials also engaged to count ballots will require additional specific training in ballot count procedures; where separate staff are employed for the count, their training can be limited to specific count-related duties (given the critical nature of accurate ballot counts, it is highly preferable that 100 percent of these staff are provided with face-to-face training);

• Who are recruited to provide special voting facilities--where any of these facilities have different procedures, such staff should form a separate target subgroup undergoing training in the procedures relevant to their duties.

Training Participation Incentives

Another issue is how to ensure that voting operations staff actually participate in their intended training. The most effective, and essential, method is to make employment conditional on satisfactory completion of the required training, whether through attendance at training sessions or proof of self-training through completion of workbooks or other home exercises. It can usefully be augmented by positive monetary or status incentives, tailored to the specific environment. Examples of these include:

• an attractive payment structure for training;

• conducting training in attractive locations;

• presentation of formal certificates or some other positive status reinforcement on successful completion of training;

• integration of voting operations staff training with accredited general education programs through recognised educational institutions.

Training Materials, Equipment, and Sites

For voting operations staff training to be effective, it needs to be fully supported by appropriate materials, equipment, and logistics planning. These are additional and necessary training costs which must be considered when developing voting operations budgets

Face-to-face training sessions are generally the most effective way to train voting operations staff. Effective implementation will require considerable organisation in terms of selecting appropriate locations, allocating staff to training sessions, developing training materials and aids, identifying and training suitable trainers and, often, transportation arrangements. Even where face-to-face sessions are not feasible, staff who are provided with quality reference and training materials from which to train themselves, will be more capable of fulfilling their responsibilities properly.

The materials, equipment, logistics, and management support required for voting operations staff training will vary according to the training methodology adopted (for alternative training methodologies, see Training Methodology). For example, using a simultaneous training model is likely to require more intensive facilities and greater quantities of materials (and hence be more expensive) than other models.

Training Locations

Potential training locations need to be identified and reserved in the same way and usefully at the same time as are voting station sites. Site standards required are discussed in detail at  Where training is occurring in local facilities, through cascade or mobile training team methods, there may be efficiencies in using intended voting station locations as training venues (if they meet the facilities standard required), particularly if these are schools or other government buildings available on demand for election purposes.

Training Materials

The quantity of materials required for voting operations staff training sessions needs to be considered when determining overall order quantities for election materials. Where early or continuous training programs are in place, early delivery of a proportion of election materials may need to be arranged to meet training needs.

It is vital for training effectiveness that, from the time of preparation of training materials through to the election, that there is a period of stability in the legal and procedural frameworks for voting operations.

Materials required fall into several basic categories:

• reference materials and guidelines for voting operations staff;

• training reference materials and aids for trainers;

• materials to be used in demonstrations and simulations of voting station activity.

The construction of training materials kits for polling officials is useful, where these can be packaged (possibly by staff packing voting station materials) without significant additional cost. These can contain both reference materials and examples of forms and material to be used in voting stations.

Reference Materials

Development of reference materials should be closely controlled by the electoral management body, if not actually undertaken by it. If voting operations staff reference materials are to be produced by contractors or independently by other organisations, the electoral management body must the power of preproduction approval and prevent distribution of any material that does not conform to correct procedures and practices.

Provision of a manual to each and every voting operations official is a vital component of maintaining election integrity. Voting operations officials undertaking the same tasks need full and identical information on their responsibilities and correct procedures. Extracts from election law, or ad hoc collections of intermittent directions from electoral or judicial authorities are not sufficient. Manuals can be usefully supported by check lists and cue cards providing handy reference to voting operations officials and other staff on specific tasks.

Cost-cutting by providing manuals only to voting station managers, or having group use of reduced manual stocks, is likely to lead to confusion and possible improper decisions on voting day. Wherever possible, staff should receive their reference materials before they attend any face-to-face training sessions.

Where there are significant differences in levels of responsibilities of voting operations officials, or in their tasks, for example, between voting stations managers and other voting station staff, between staff working in ordinary voting stations and those staffing early, absentee, mobile or other special voting facilities, it would be preferable that specific manuals, addressing their particular tasks, were produced for similar categories of officials. Organising manuals (and training) on a modular base makes such differentiation easier.

Development of Trainers' Manuals

While training should be based on the contents of the voting operations staff manuals, training session content and presentation requirements themselves need to be properly defined in separate trainers manuals, to assure consistency and assist quality of training presentation. Again, each trainer should be provided with their own copy of such manuals, as well as of the procedures manuals on which training is based.

If inexperienced trainers are being used, which is particularly likely to occur under a cascade methodology  it is essential that they are fully supported by manuals or guidelines on presentation styles. 

Other Support Materials

Apart from reference materials, other support material will be required according to the specifications of the training session plans, such as slide, video and audio materials, and overhead transparencies, to aid demonstrations and actual election equipment and material so that skills learned can be practised during training in a voting station atmosphere.

Examples of all election forms to be used by polling officials should be available and practice in their use integrated into the session. Ballot boxes, seals, voting compartments, signage, and voting machines or computers (where used in voting stations) should also be available so that voting simulations can be conducted in a more realistic environment.

Training Structure and Materials Planning

Where cascade or mobile training team models are used, much of the material provided can be reused or will be required in lesser quantities. Using mobile training teams with appropriate transport facilities:

• equipment can be carried with the training teams, rather than fresh sets provided at each location;

• materials, apart from those retained by polling officials for reference, may also be able to be re-used in multiple training sessions.

Similarly, under cascade training models, staggering of training in adjacent localities can provide opportunities for sharing of materials. Simultaneous training models generally offer no such materials economies.

Training Logistics

Logistics planning requirements will vary according to whether training is decentralised to local areas or concentrated in central or regional centres. Under cascade training arrangements  there will generally be relatively few (if any) staff with significant transportation requirements and possible need for accommodation during the training period. Regional trainers may need to be brought to a central point for training, and support for staff monitoring decentralised training sessions provided, but beyond that generally only local travel will be involved.

Where mobile training teams  are used, itinerary scheduling and planning will be a significant part of training organisation. Significant transportation support will generally be required for the trainers themselves, and will usually require coordination from a central or regional base. Mobile communications facilities will be of benefit for such teams.

Simultaneous training models  will require considerably more logistics support, in coordinating all resources to be available at a single or multiple points on the one day.

They may also involve some transportation and accommodation support for voting operations officials as well as trainers, if training staff resources are limited to the extent that training can only be undertaken at a restricted number of more centralised locations.

Training Plan

Training of staff for voting operations is a complex process for which careful planning is essential to bring together the varied information inputs into a cohesive system to allow effective, reliable training delivery at the grass-roots level. Quality of planning for this training is enhanced if it is undertaken at both strategic and operational levels.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning for voting operations training is needed to identify:

• training objectives, target groups for training, and required learning outcomes

• appropriate mixes of methodologies for target groups and regions;

• materials development requirements

• training evaluation systems

• overall training resource requirements.

In developing training materials under the strategic plan, care must be taken to allow sufficient flexibility to handle any changes to legal or operational frameworks that may occur close to the election date.

This strategic planning is necessary for properly focusing operational training plans. It is highly preferable that this level of planning is maintained on a continuous basis. To initiate training planning at the announcement of an election runs the risks of strategy being merely an ad hoc reactive response to very time-sensitive operational needs. This is not likely to deliver the most cost-effective training.

Operational Plans

Training operational plans should identify:

• the training functions to be undertaken and their location and timing;

• detailed resource needs for training;

• the personal responsibilities and accountabilities for training management and delivery.

They may be prepared and implemented centrally, or, if cascade training models are used, there is the opportunity to devolve much of the planning to regional or local levels.

Operational plans for voting operations training may be able to be partially prepared prior to the final determination of voting locations and numbers of staff to be employed at each location, but will require review and possibly amendment once these are known. Early identification of voting locations and numbers of staff to be recruited will certainly assist training planning.

Operational training plans would usually detail both the procedural training requirements for voting operations staff, and any training of trainers that has to be implemented. Issues that need to be defined in the operational training plans include:

• the numbers of staff to be trained, categorised into any separate target groups determined under the strategic plan 

• the methodology by which each of these target groups is to be trained 

• the scheduling of training 

• production and distribution of materials required for training 

• the trainers to be assigned to each training session, including any arrangements for contracting training functions 

• the locations to be used for training, their reservation, and the numbers of staff to be trained at each location 

• the transportation, accommodations, and communications required to support trainers and voting operations officials attending training;

• logistics for distribution of training materials and equipment;

• the methods and resources required for knowledge assessment

• the methods, scheduling, and resources needed for monitoring and evaluating training consistency and quality 

• contingency plans for emergency or remedial retraining;

• costs of training;

• any contributions required to training of persons not employed by the electoral management body, for example, representatives of political parties or candidates, observers, and security forces

Training operational plans need to be integrated with materials supply, logistics, and recruitment planning, as well as with financial management planning and review cycles.

Training of Trainers

Training of trainers has two distinct objectives:

• imparting knowledge of voting operations procedures;

• developing training presentation skills.

When using external professional trainers there is a need to ensure that they are thoroughly familiar with the technical and administrative content and formats of the training sessions for which they will be responsible.

When using non-professional trainers for voting operations staff training - as in cascade-style structures (see Training Methodology), or in any system where more senior voting station officials have training responsibilities for their staff - there is a need to ensure that those staff who will be doing the training also roles also receive skills training on how to train others. This will assist in making the training more effective than.

A training skills development programme is also necessary in environments where school teachers or other educators are appointed as senior voting station officials, and used in voting station official training roles as the skills required for adult training are different to those used for school teaching.

Procedural Training

The technical content of training sessions for trainers is taken from the same information as that appropriate for voting operations staff. When using external professional trainers it is important that they have sufficient knowledge of voting operations technical issues to answer participants' questions.

The alternative is using technical advisers from the electoral management body at all training sessions. This is usually difficult to integrate with other demands on technical specialists' time during the same period.

Training in Training Skills

Training is an acquired skill. The ability to do a task is not any indication of the ability to transfer these skills to others. There is a need to ensure that non-professional trainers receive some training on effective training presentation skills and use of training materials when using them to train voting operations staff, for example, local voting operations managers being used to train voting station managers, who in turn train their voting station officials.

The intensity of this training depends on the complexity of sessions that these staff will be expected to present.

In addition to covering procedural aspects of voting, a comprehensive trainer training program covers the following issues:

• an understanding the human learning and skills acquisition processes;

• creating a positive learning environment;

• encouraging learner participation;

• the development of a skills/competency training approach as distinct from an education approach;

• directing trainees towards competency objectives;

• setting up an effective training environment such as venue,

• breaks, recognising attention spans, consultation with trainees;

• equitable treatment of each individual trainee;

• time management to achieve training session timetable objectives;

• effective frameworking, revision and summarising of information provided;

• imparting values, quality expectations and procedural information;

• directing question and answer sessions and group exercises towards group learning and practical skill demonstration;

• equitable and practical methods of assessing each trainee's competency in performing the required tasks;

• self-evaluation of the trainer's performance.

Assessment of Trainers

An assessment of trainers is an integral part of any training programme and the acquisition of these skills by trainers needs to be tested.

This can be achieved through the implementation of mock training exercises during the training session Ideally this is followed up by close supervision of the initial training session undertaken by each trainer but this may not always be feasible as it requires time and resources.

Many trainers, in a cascade system particularly, may only present one session.

There is a need to implement some form of quality control, even if only by attendance of monitors from the electoral management body or training program managers, at a sample of the sessions conducted by newly-trained presenters.

Training Methodology

In developing both the overall strategy and the detailed session plans for training from the objectives determined (see Organisation of Training), it is essential to select a structure and methodology that will be most effective for the training environment, considering factors such as:

• cultural environment;

• available training resources;

• available timeframes;

• affordability;

• cost-effectiveness.

Training Focus

The focus of training for voting operations officials is on achieving task competency--the ability to carry out a range of activities accurately and with integrity under pressure, not just to know about them. Appropriate methodologies derive from this basic principle.

It is recognised that task-based learning is better accomplished in face-to-face training sessions rather than from book study. Thus training programs for voting operations officials should be based on aiming to provide all with some face-to-face training. In remote areas, or where face-to-face training is not affordable for all staff, all voting operations officials should at least be provided with the standard reference materials, with a requirement that self-trained officials undertake some form of knowledge assessment, through use of workbooks or exercises provided with the reference materials.

In addition to these formal training and briefing methods, the importance of informal training activities as a reinforcement should not be underestimated. These could include contact through newsletters or quasi-social activities.

Specific Issues to Be Considered

In determining training structure and methodology, there are a number of interrelated issues which require resolution:

• what is the best structure for the training program (see below) and when should it be implemented (see Timing of Training);

• who should be used to present voting operations officials training (see Training Delivery Responsibilities) and what do they need for a successful presentation (see Training Reference Materials);

• what subject matter should training sessions cover and how should this be organised (see Training Session Content);

• what training facilities and aids are required (see Training Environment);

• how is the success of the training to be measured (see Knowledge Assessment and Evaluation of Recruitment and Training).

Testing

Training voting operations officials for a general election is an immense training exercise. While simulations during training can enhance voting operations officials' learning, without the reality of election pressure it is not possible to fully evaluate the degree of success of the chosen training methodology.

Wherever possible methodologies selected should be thoroughly tested in a live environment, if possible in partial elections (by-elections) or other localised elections, before being implemented on a large scale.

Training Structure

Determining the training structure is interdependent with assessing resource needs against resource availability. Often there will need to be some compromises between ideals in relation to:

• the time taken to complete voting operations official training;

• the number of trainers required;

• the ability to engage professional trainers;

• the size of training groups.

Initial decisions will need to be made on whether it is feasible to provide face-to-face training sessions for all voting operations staff. There are three basic training structure models for face-to-face training of voting operations officials:

• the cascade, ripple, or pyramid model;

• the mobile team model;

• the simultaneous training model.

Each has positive aspects that may be sufficient to make it preferable in a particular environment. Elements of each may be combined to provide the most effective structure for an environment. Their positive and negative factors are worth examining in some detail.

Cascade Model

The cascade, ripple, or pyramid model acts through training small groups of people in both voting operations functional skills and training techniques, who then, in turn, train small groups of people with functional skills and training techniques, and so on, until functional skills are passed on to the lowest staff level. In an election environment the model could progress as follows:

• central electoral management body technical specialists and professional trainers train central electoral management body staff;

• central electoral management body staff train regional or local electoral administrators;

• regional or local electoral administrators train voting station managers;

• voting station managers train their voting station staff.

The number of layers in the cascade can be manipulated to fit available time, geography, and logistics considerations and optimal training group sizes. The following table indicates some significant advantages and disadvantages of this model.

CASCADE TRAINING MODEL
ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
It is flexible.
It is empowering and capacity-building, in delivering transportable training skills to a large group of people.	It requires a large number of non-professional trainers capable of having training skills - and confidence in their own training skills - developed in a relatively short training session.
It is sustainable, in that is has only moderate demands on professional training resources.	Requires detailed development of trainer's manuals, lesson plans and presentation resources.
Through use of small groups it enables fully participative competency training.	Non-professional trainers may not be able to make effective training use of group activities.
It requires few logistical resources, as the bulk of training can be locality-based.	May be difficult to revise training session content or presentation style in accordance with evaluation findings.
It requires few central organisational resources - though a significant organisational load is spread over a large number of locations.	It requires central monitoring to ensure that sessions are in fact organised and conducted as planned.
It can be cost-effective as it can use staff already employed for other functions in training roles.	Staff selected for other skills may not be effective trainers/presenters.
It can train a large number of people in a relatively short time: though some time for absorption is required between being trained and conducting training for others.	Time period strictures may compress the levels to the stage where small group advantages are lost.
It is decentralised, allowing local accountability.	There is less control over quality and consistency. The constant and effective monitoring required to ensure that the correct messages are passed on in effective ways at each level of the pyramid may be beyond election management body capacities.
Reinforcement, through conducting training sessions for others, will enhance skill levels.	It requires a longer training session - covering both voting operations and training skills - for a significant number (but a minority) of staff who will, in turn, train others.

Where there is confidence that lower levels of trainers are going to be successful in conducting training sessions (and this can be assisted by maintaining a simple structure for participative activities), and an effective quality monitoring function can be implemented, this model, or a combination of it with some mobile training team features (see below), is a very effective training structure.

Mobile Training Team Model

The mobile team model involves teams of two or more trainers visiting different geographic localities and conducting one or a number of training sessions there. Different variations would see the training team training all staff in the locality or training senior staff only, with these staff in cascade fashion then training their subordinate staff.

The following table indicates some significant advantages and disadvantages of this model:

MOBILE TEAM TRAINING MODEL
ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
It uses professional trainers to train all, or at least higher level, staff at local levels.	It requires availability of professional trainers over a longer period.
Use of professional trainers may stimulate learning activity.	It does not build training capacities and may not be a sustainable development path.
Has in-built quality and effectiveness controls through use of small teams of professional staff.
It provides presenters skilled in participative, competency development training.	Depending on the number of teams that are affordable, it may not be possible to maintain small participative training groups if mobile teams are to cover all staff in the time available.
It has low logistics costs, relating almost wholly to transport for the trainers.	Logistics problems through unavoidable occurrences such as bad weather may stall the whole training program.
It requires relatively few central organisational resources - most of the organisational load can be devolved to the local level.	It requires planning of training circuits by a central authority.
It provides a consistent stream of evaluation data which can be used to improve session content and presentation.	Time period required for training may be longer than is realistically available.
It reduces reliance on a highly structured trainer's manual - use of professional trainers can allow flexibility in presentation for local conditions.	It does not leave trainers' manuals out amongst election staff for future reference.
Length of training session only has to be sufficient to cover voting operations technical issues.	There is no transfer of training skills to voting operations staff at regional and local levels.
Provides cost effectiveness through minimising transport and shorter training sessions.	It has longer-term professional and accommodation costs for trainers.

The major problem with this model in its pure form is the length of time it may take for mobile training teams to train all voting operations staff. This may not be possible under election timetables or mean that training has to be commenced so early in some areas that retention by the time of voting day may have suffered. Conversely, the employment of sufficient mobile teams to train all staff in a short period may not be possible within available budgets or available professional training resources.

Combining a mobile team model for more senior local staff, electoral district administrators, and then using a cascade style where electoral district administrators train their voting station managers who train their own staff can provide a reasonable balance of consistency, time availability, and professionalism.

Simultaneous Model

Under this model all staff are trained simultaneously, on the one day or days, throughout the area for which there is an election. The following table indicates some significant advantages and disadvantages of this model.

SIMULTANEOUS TRAINING MODEL
ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
It creates a high profile training event which may stimulate recruitment, community election involvement, and interest in learning.	It requires a large number of trainers to be available simultaneously.
It can be conducted in a short time period.	There is little chance for evaluation or modification of training sessions.
It can result in training capacity-building if trainers are specifically trained for this event, rather than professional trainers being solely used.	As all professional training staff are likely to be involved in the event, there will be little capacity for monitoring the quality of training presentations.
	It is dependent on complex logistics plans working effectively.
	It requires considerable central planning and logistics organisation.
	It may require larger training groups to enable all training to be conducted on the one day.
	It may require production of a greater volume of materials for training purposes than other methods.
	It may stretch the capacities of available professional trainers to train in time all trainers required.

Where election training is being promoted as a national event to stimulate interest in electoral education in general or an upcoming election, a simultaneous training model such as a national election training day may assist in image-building and in voter education. For this to be successful, appropriate publicity campaign materials will need to be developed. It may also be an appropriate model where unexpected elections are called at short notice. However, its significant disadvantages will generally mean that unless there are some special environmental factors present, other models offer more cost-effective solutions.

Training Delivery Responsibilities

 

In determining the appropriate methodology for voting operations training, the resources required to be used for developing and presenting training programs need to be carefully identified when conducting election needs assessments  and in training planning 

Factors that will need to be considered include the internal training capacities of the electoral management body, the training structure adopted  and the quality and availability of external training resources. Available training presentation resources may well be the major determinant of the training structure itself.

There are a number of alternative presentation resources that can be used to provide effective training, each requiring different models for managing training quality and ensuring on-time delivery. Given the large numbers of staff to be trained in a short time period, and the potential consequences of training failure, engagement of sufficient training presentation resources is a key issue to be addressed early in election planning.

Use of In-House Resources

Permanent electoral management bodies may maintain in-house professional training facilities, though as training per se is not really a core professional business of electoral management. In less public-sector dependent environments there are arguments that this may be better left wholly to professional training organisations.

Where such internal training units exist, their orientation is likely to be more towards training program development and training of permanent officials. It would generally be excessively wasteful to maintain permanently a training force sufficient to train all voting operations staff.

However, through their knowledge of training techniques and voting procedures, in-house trainers have a major supervisory role invoting station official training presentation. They can be most effectively used to provide:

• first level "train the trainer" sessions  for other electoral management body staff, or other persons recruited for training roles;

• quality monitoring of the voting station official training program, through attendance at samples of training sessions and review of session evaluations

In this fashion in-house trainers' expertise can have a wider influence on training activities than if they were fully occupied in session presentations to voting station staff. The basic problem is one of available time. For maximum effectiveness, the bulk of voting operations official training will be compressed into a short period before voting day. Permanent in-house training capacities will generally not effectively cope with the number of sessions required in the time period.

Where electoral management bodies or their agents (such as local government administrations under some systems) have a permanent regional or local area staff presence, these may also be used as front line resources in voting station official training roles, following their being trained as trainers (for such permanent election-related staff, training as trainerscan be more effective as an ongoing program).

In general, using wherever possible trainers who already have experience with elections is preferable to using external professional trainers, as long as these staff can demonstrate presentation capacities and their other election preparation duties do not suffer due to commitments to training presentations.

Training Delivery by Other Sources

Where resources outside the electoral management body are to be involved in training, which would be in most environments where there are no permanent electoral management authorities with regional or local presence, a basic decision on management of training delivery has to be taken. Is it to be?

• wholly contracted out as a package to a professional training institution;

• managed by the electoral management body but using additional resources hired specifically for training purposes;

• a combination of the above two approaches, with training functions contracted out in regions with institutional training strength allowing the electoral management body to concentrate its training management capacities in other areas.

Wherever external persons or organisations are engaged to conduct voting operations training, it must be crystal clear to them that they are bound by the official code of conduct, and all persons engaged in training should be prepared to formally adhere to this code.

Lack of neutrality in training can raise suspicions about the impartiality of voting operations officials themselves or, worse, provide them with malicious information that may adversely affect their implementation of voting procedures.

Contracting Out for Training Functions

There are some advantages in contracting training delivery out as a package. It removes one day-to-day management function from a crowded period in the election timetable, and it can provide a fully professional training force.

It may be the only feasible way to mobilise and manage sufficient training resources, particularly in a simultaneous training structure  For cascade structures, it can be the most appropriate method for training higher levels. However, there are also significant disadvantages that need to be carefully considered before adopting it. Contracting all training to other organisations may threaten perceptions of election integrity, particularly if contracted out to state-connected educational institutions in environments where there is suspicion of the neutrality of state institutions.

It will also require rigorous performance monitoring to ensure that training is being undertaken with the facilities and in the manner required.

Potential Training Contractors

The types of bodies that could be considered for conducting voting operations officials training are:

• government institutions, such as training boards, technical training institutions, other educational authorities;

• private sector professional groups;

• community groups, such as non-governmental civic organisations with an interest and expertise in civic education and human rights issues, or even churches.

Where such institutions are community or regionally based, a joint consortium approach may be useful, bringing different training organisations under one coordinating umbrella for the purpose of voting operations training. This may be required to achieve the necessary coverage but will heighten the need to monitor consistency and quality of training services provided.

International Assistance

Training development and implementation may also be seen as an appropriate priority for international election assistance in less developed countries.

However, such assistance may do little to build a sustainable training capacity unless its focus is to train local staff as trainers and support their performance, and international staff are not simply used to conduct all training.

Employment of Additional Staff for Training Purposes

Direct employment of additional staff by the electoral management body for training purposes can provide greater control over training processes.

Such staff, however, are likely to be less-experienced in conducting adult training, and training trainers by electoral management body staff or professional trainers will generally still need to address training presentation skills.

The varied experience levels of such staff will also require strict monitoring of training presentations. Groups from which trainers could be recruited could include:

• school teachers and other educational workers;

• civic or voter education workers;

• members of civic education-oriented community and professional groups;

• senior voting operations officials, in particular voting station managers.

Use of educators and community professionals may be more appropriate for mobile or regional team training structures and simultaneous training models.

Use of senior voting operations officials is a cost-effective method for training the majority of voting station officials where cascade structures are used. Their training duties will also enhance their own knowledge levels by making them more aware of the totality of functions within the voting station environment.

Number of Trainers Conducting Each Training Session

Even working with relatively small training groups, it is preferable, wherever affordable and the training resources are available, to assign a minimum of two trainers as a training team to each training session. This can serve a number of purposes:

• provides more intense guidance and faster organisation for simulation and group activities;

• different personalities provide changes in presentation styles and enhance attention spans;

• particularly where mobile training teams are travelling to various locations, provides back-up in case of illness;

• can assist in maintaining trainer energy and completion of sessions within the assigned times.

Where training capacity building is an objective, it may be useful for training teams to include a "trainee" trainer--for example, an outstanding polling official--being groomed for future training responsibilities.

Presenters who are experts in their technical field can also be useful to assist with training presentations. Introductions to training sessions from senior electoral officials can reinforce the importance of training to participants.

Appearances during relevant segments by security experts, communication facility managers, and procedures drafters can enhance the image of the information presented. This can assist effective training, particularly in providing variations in presentation style during training sessions, but need not be essential.

Training of Observers, Party Representatives, Security Forces

Training of observers and party or candidate representatives is the responsibility of their organisations. However, it can be highly useful for the electoral management body to be involved in both preparing technical reference materials and providing expert presenters for observer and party/candidate representative training.

This can assist in ensuring that correct legal, procedural, and operational information is used in training by these organisations. (For further discussion of these issues, see Training for Parties and Candidates and Training for Observers.)

For security forces, the electoral management body has a role to play in developing specific programs and materials, training trainers within security forces in election procedural issues, presenting relevant sessions, and in monitoring security force election training.

However, responsibility for conduct of election training of security personnel is better left to security forces management. (For further discussion of these issues, see Security Force Training.)

 

Training Session Content

Training session content for voting operations staff is logically based on the procedures manual(s) to be used by voting operations officials as the guidelines for their duties.

Training content should aim to develop all the competencies required by voting operations officials to undertake their tasks.

Scope of Content

In some environments, training session content may not be limited to voting procedures only. There may be a need to train staff in basic systems used to support voting stations or other election processes, for example:

• how to assemble portable voting station equipment;

• use of telephone (or fax equipment if used);

• use of other communications systems such as personal radios;

• use of special calculators;

• some basic information on computer operation where computers are used for voting.

These issues can be as important as the voting procedures themselves for ensuring staff effectiveness.

Training sessions are also the most effective forum for reinforcing organisational values, staff welfare, and assistance matters as well as answering queries. Relevant issues would include:

• the integrity, impartiality, and professionalism expected of all staff;

• dealing with voters and the public in a polite and effective manner;

• wage payment amounts, method and timing;

• assigned duty stations;

• arrangements for transportation to and from their duty station;

• accommodation and meal provisions;

• any arrangements for reimbursement of expenses and allowable expense items.

Particular attention during training should be given to identified areas of difficulty. These may have been identified from:

• past experience;

• complexity of the procedural requirements;

• importance to the integrity of the voting process;

• introduction of new procedures that require retraining of staff.

Common areas requiring particular emphasis include:

• control and reconciliations of voting materials;

• voter identification and marking of voter lists or other voter attendance records;

• unregistered persons wanting to vote;

• procedures for challenged voters or votes;

• secure and correct parceling of materials;

• correct determination of valid ballots and (where relevant) voter preference marks.

Other subjects may need greater attention according to the cultural history of the particular environment; these could be issues such as voting secrecy, voter service, and rights of party/candidate representatives and independent observers.

Staff Categorisation for Training

It may be more effective to categorise staff for training purposes, depending on how recruitment strategies (see Recruitment) and polling staff categories have been defined. This needs to be taken into account in training planning 

For example, staff with voting station management roles will require additional training content to those guarding ballot boxes. Where staff are recruited for specific duties or mixtures of duties in a voting station--for example, voting materials issuing, queue control, voter information--there can be learning efficiencies in training each staff category with a specific program content appropriate to their defined tasks.

These may be greater when recruited staff have little experience or a low basic skill base. A drawback to this is that limiting training to specific tasks may limit staffing management flexibility within voting stations and reduce team cohesion.

Modular Training Content

Developing a modular training program (see Training Delivery Style and Training Reference Materials) can be an effective base for training staff for different roles.

Using this approach, the basic staff training session can be augmented by modules appropriate to staff requiring broader or higher skill levels. Length of training sessions can be tailored according to what specific categories of staff may need to know.

General Voting Operations Officials Training Content

The key content issues to be covered during voting operations staff training relate to the:

• legal and procedural bases of voting operations staff tasks;

• behaviour expected of staff;

• materials and equipment to be used;

• conduct of voting;

• provision of quality service to voters;

• rights and responsibilities of election participants;

• administrative arrangements for staff;

• security, integrity, communications and safety issues.

Structuring training content in a similar way to that which information is organised in staff manuals will aid understanding. Content may be structured on a simple "time of action" basis, by breaking the sessions down into sections dealing with:

• administration and staff welfare issues;

• activity before commencement of voting;

• conducting the voting;

• close of voting and collection of materials;

• the ballot count (where relevant).

Content may be more effectively organised in a modular format (see Training Delivery Style). Modules deal with discrete, though interrelated, skills or information sets. A modular structure for a training session for voting station officials could contain modules on:

• registration of participants;

• session introduction/summary of objectives;

• staff entitlements, deployment, and welfare;

• the election environment/purpose;

• code of conduct, integrity, and impartiality, voter service issues;

• function and use of, and accountabilities for, voting materials and equipment;

• voting station layout and functional areas;

• duties prior to opening of the voting station;

• role of party/candidate representatives and independent observers during voting;

• crowd control;

• voter information;

• voter identity and eligibility checks;

• issuing voting material;

• maintaining voting secrecy;

• assistance to voters;

• special voting facilities (if appropriate);

• maintenance of the voting area;

• problems that could arise during voting;

• personal safety (including responses to emergencies) and materials security;

• close of voting;

• packaging and security of materials;

• session review. These modules may vary in amount of content, from five to ten minutes of presentation time to up to an hour. Where not all staff have the same duties, the training on the specialist tasks--such as crowd control, voter information, issuing and accepting voting material, special voting facilities--could be presented only to those staff with these specialist duties.

Specific procedural environments will have additional modular requirements required by voting procedures, for issues such as voting day registration and use of voting computers.

Senior Voting Station Staff

Training content for staff with management roles in voting stations, e.g., voting station managers and their assistants or deputies and roving officials or supervisors, needs to be augmented to cover their additional specific duties and management roles. In a modular format, the modules noted above for general staff would be augmented by additional modules which could cover:

• setting up the voting station and ensuring receipt of all materials;

• staff management, supervision, and welfare;

• materials, equipment, and premises management;

• conflict resolution methods;

• communications strategies;

• security management, i.e., the roles of security forces and managing emergency procedures;

• completion of voting station records and reports;

• a "Training the trainer" session if they have responsibility for training their staff.

Additional training in these management issues will enhance the efficient operations of voting stations.

Officials for Special Voting Facilities

Where special voting facilities are being used  staff involved will have specific training needs requiring additional or different content. Specific additional content will vary according to the election system parameters, but may need to include:

For early, absentee, and foreign voting location staff:

• procedures for issue of voting material, whether through attendance of the voter, by mail, or by electronic means;

• controls to ensure voting material is issued for the correct electoral district;

• completion, verification, and checking against voter registration records of information supplied by voters supporting the validity of their vote;

• materials packaging and despatch to correct electoral district or administrative centre;

• voting material reconciliations.

For mobile voting station staff:

• liaison with mobile voting location communities or institutional managers;

• completion of records for multi-location and multi-day voting;

• logistics support;

• additional equipment and materials security measures.

Where procedures and content of training for officials staffing special voting facilities are significantly different from those for other voting station staff, totally separate training sessions will be more effective.

Training for Ballot Counting Officials

Training content for ballot counting officials will be governed by whether additional staff are engaged to conduct the count at regional or central count centres, or whether counting, either in the voting station or in a separate count centre, is conducted by the same staff used in the voting station. Where voting station officials are involved in the counting of ballots, additional training modules will be required on issues such as:

• preparation of materials and set up of count area;

• function and use of count materials and equipment;

• rights and responsibilities of party and candidate representatives and independent observers at counts;

• counting and sorting procedures;

• assessing the validity of ballots, determining voter preference marks (where used), and treatment of challenges;

• problems that could arise during the count;

• closing the count and calculation of results;

• packaging of materials at close of count.

Where ballot counting staff are separately recruited and trained, some additional behavioural and administrative topics will need to be covered in addition to the specific count procedures content, including:

• registration and administration matters for the session;

• the election environment;

• staff entitlements and logistics arrangements;

• code of conduct and impartiality and integrity issues;

• personal and materials security.

Additional content of count managers training should also cover similar management matters to that of voting station managers, e.g., staff and materials management, transmission of results, security management, adjudication of challenges, completion of count records, and return of count material to the electoral management body.

Some staffing structures allow additional logistics staff to be employed at the count, to assist, under the supervision of count officials, in voting station clean-up or organising furniture during preparation for the count, moving ballot boxes, and packaging and securing of materials. A short briefing session by the count manager prior to commencement of the count will generally be sufficient training for such staff.

Temporary Administration Assistance Staff

It is equally important that any temporary staff engaged in administrative positions for voting operations are trained to undertake their duties.

Where such temporary staff have legal and management responsibilities with regard to the election--for example, in electoral district management--it is vital that they are fully trained so they can accurately guide the operations of polling staff within their area and confidently accept accountability for voting operations activities under their control.

Training Delivery Style

The effectiveness of training for voting station officials can be considerably influenced by the delivery style and presentation methods used.

Choosing the right delivery style or mix of delivery styles is a matter of carefully assessing the following factors:

• the skills which training aims to develop;

• the subject matter to be absorbed;

• the existing skills of the individuals who are to be trained;

• the trainees' cultural familiarity with potential delivery styles;

• The numbers in the groups to be trained.

As with the introduction of any system, it is prudent to test delivery style and content combinations of new training programs on a sample of trainees, and make adjustments after evaluating the trial's success, before implementing full-scale training. While an added expense, it can prevent failure and the need for significant retraining later.

Potential Presentation Methods

Different training delivery styles may be required for senior polling officials, such as voting station managers, than for junior staff.

In junior staff the aim is to develop competencies in a limited range of tasks--such as, issuing voting material, checking voter identity, securing ballot boxes, and assisting voters with information on how to vote--that are based on demonstrable standard procedures that can be easily practised and assessed.

Officials with supervisory and management roles in voting stations need a broader range of skills--some procedural, some for judgment and management--for which effective training would vary the delivery style mix with a greater orientation towards group discussion, problem-solving, and analytical work.

Basic Presentation Styles

Basic styles may be divided into two main categories:

• non-participative, where training participants are fed information relevant to their tasks by the trainer, make notes, and perhaps have some time to ask questions;

• Participative, using formats through which interaction between the group and the trainer, amongst the group, and the practice of skills are integral parts of the training.

The typical non-participative styles include:

• lectures;

• demonstrations by experts;

• watching and listening to video and audio training aids;

• Revision tests and assignments. Typical participative styles include:

• discussion groups, either of the training group as a whole or using smaller sub-groups, with discussions and reporting back of conclusions guided by the trainer;

• games used to stimulate thinking about task parameters and conduct;

• simulations of voting station activity involving role play by group members and trainer-guided comments by the group;

• exercises in undertaking required tasks;

• competitions, involving individual or group knowledge and demonstrations of skills learned.

Determining Appropriate Delivery Styles

In determining which are the appropriate styles to use for imparting particular knowledge and skills, there are some general guiding principles that should be considered. Reliance on non-participative methods, particularly lecture-style presentations, and training aids (see Training Environment) is not the most effective means for developing task competency.

However, these styles are useful to introduce and reinforce the legislative and procedural framework, demonstrate and describe skills to be learned, and summarise expected learning.

Participative methods stimulate task competency and learning, provide practice for the participants in the tasks they will have to undertake, and assist in building team cooperation amongst participants. If carefully designed and controlled they can allow continuous assessment of knowledge and support the evaluation of training progress (see Timing of Training and Evaluation of Recruitment and Training).

Simulations and Role Play

For polling staff, simulations of their voting day duties, in an area set up to resemble a voting station with real materials and rotating role playing amongst the group (playing a variety of officials and voters), is a highly effective, if not essential, part of their training. Suitable subjects for simulations would include:

• set-up of voting station equipment and materials, including sealing of ballot boxes (or initialisation procedures for voting machines or computers), distribution and checking of voting materials, signage and voter information display;

• checking voter identity and eligibility;

• issuing voting materials;

• handling of party/candidate representatives and independent observers, complaints and problem situations;

• crowd control and voter service;

• voting material reconciliations;

• monitoring of ballot boxes and voting compartment areas;

• collecting, sorting, and packaging of materials at close of voting and preparations made for the ballot count.

Where staff are also being trained for the ballot count, additional simulation activities could include:

• checking in of materials (if at separate counting centres) and reconciliation of ballots;

• determination of validity of and preference marks on ballots;

• sorting, tallying, and aggregating votes;

• interventions by party/candidate representatives and independent observers;

• final reconciliations and packaging of materials.

Other forms of participative training--large or small group discussions, quizzes, or competitions--can be used to reinforce and extend the learning from simulations or act as learning stimulants on their own.

Training Skills Needed for Participative Methods

The drawback with participative methods is that they will generally require a higher level of trainer skill and confidence. It is a lot easier to stand and lecture a group, and demonstrate personally or with audio-visual aids, than it is to effectively lead group discussions, exercises, and simulations. For that reason, in cascade systems (see Training Methodology), lower level and generally inexperienced training presenters should be selected with care and must have the opportunity to practise participative training skills during their training sessions, if they are to use participative training methods for training other voting station officials.

Session Lengths

There is no ideal length of training session. Optimal length will basically be determined by:

• complexity of the subject matter to be addressed;

• base skills and prior experience of the participants;

• information retention capacities of the trainees.

However, sessions of longer than five to six hours in a single day will tax participants' and trainers' energies and attention spans, and possibly lead to reduced effectiveness.

Especially for senior polling officials, multi-day training may be necessary to cover both management and procedural issues. Where relatively experienced polling staff are being trained, procedural training may be completed in a half day, whereas a full day may be required for less experienced staff.

Where voting station officials or other staff are also being trained as trainers, it would be unlikely that sufficient effective training skills would be learned in less than two days, in addition to their procedural and technical voting operations training.

Cost is a significant deterrent to providing thorough training. However, the ultimate costs of even a very few voting stations where there are significant procedural or management irregularities can be significantly greater than any apparent savings made in training.

Training Session Organisation

Organisation and effectiveness of training sessions is considerably enhanced if the session is broken down into specific planned modules. Free-form sessions can too easily fail to cover the subject matter or group activities required and thus fail to achieve the session objectives.

Adequate rest breaks are important for maintaining participants' attention. These are not only scheduled rest, snack, or meal breaks, but depend on the trainer closely watching the responsiveness of the group and allowing brief rest or stretch breaks (which may include physical or mental focusing exercises) between or during modules, particularly where participants have been seated for an extended period of time.

Where sessions are being conducted at night, the needs, energy, and attention limits of those participants who have been working on other tasks during the day need to be considered in structuring the session content and determining its length. For full-day sessions, stimulating activities need to be programmed for the post-meal and late afternoon "dozing" periods.

Subject Module Organisation Training sessions can also be better controlled if broken down into modules, with each module representing a specific block of learning to be achieved by the participants.

Organisation of sessions in modular fashion assists trainers by maintaining a structure on time usage and provides more easily identifiable specific training and learning objectives against which trainee's achievements and the trainer's performance can be evaluated.

Each module should be supported by a lesson plan. These lesson plans should provide a detailed guide to the trainer in presenting each module in regard the following:

• information content;

• presentation methods

• training aids;

• timing structure;

• information review activities.

The number of modules into which a session is divided and the length of each module will depend on such factors as:

• the extent of the subject matter (for detailed discussion of session content see Training Session Content);

• the presentation style or styles to be used (e.g., simulations will take longer than lectures and review);

• the attention spans and information absorption capacities of the trainees. Attention spans may vary in different environments (for example, there may be significantly diminished attention spans in post-conflict election environments where the population has been traumatised by conflict).

As a general rule, modules that are more than sixty minutes long will tax the energy, absorption and attention of participants.

Within each module, thought needs to be given to aspects of the module being presented in different ways. Normal effective attention spans are at maximum twenty minutes; for passive activity, such as watching a video demonstration, they can be very much shorter.

Within longer modules, a change of presentation style or activity should occur at least at twenty minute intervals to maintain fully effective attention. Such changes may be as simple as the movement from a group discussion activity to presentation of group conclusions, from a demonstration to a question period on the activity demonstrated, or from a lecture style description of an activity to its simulation.

During each module there must be the opportunity for questioning. By the conclusion of each module there must have been the opportunity for the trainer to assess each trainee's skill competency in the relevant subject. This could be done by means of a short assignment, participation in a demonstration, simulation, or group discussion or other appropriate means.

Special Considerations for Training Ballot Counting Officials

Where count officials are the same staff as in voting stations, they are likely to have already worked a busy ten to fifteen hours already, be fatigued and liable to errors in judgment, before they commence their counting duties.

Effective training for these officials has to be oriented towards instilling automatic, practised responses through intense simulations of ballot sorting, counting, handling challenges to votes, and determining ballot validity.

Training Environment

The physical environment in which training is conducted can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the training. Skills acquisition may be adversely affected by environments in which either those being trained or the trainers themselves feel uncomfortable, or the facilities are inadequate for the requirements of the training session.

Where participants are being brought to a central point for training, attention must be given to ensuring that their travel arrangements have been efficiently planned, that they are provided with adequate shelter, and that food and drink is available for them during the training period. Responsiveness to training will be significantly diminished if basic living needs have not been satisfactorily organised.

Training Venue Standards

Basic standars that would preferably be met by the areas or buildings to be used for training would include:

• accessibility to transportation;

• ease of access--buildings accessed by long flights of stairs or narrow entrances which may impede use of equipment should be avoided wherever possible;

• sufficient light and air movement, wherever possible avoiding environments in which extremes of temperature cannot be modified;

• sufficient space for the size of the training group--anything less than two to three square metres per participant is likely to become uncomfortable during all but very short training sessions;

• sufficient comfortable seating for all participants;

• sufficient tables or desks for all participants to use for taking notes or any revision assignments;

• freedom from noise in adjacent areas during training sessions;

• non-offensiveness to the cultural sensitivities of any of the officials to be trained;

• access to toilets and water;

Additional requirements, according to the content of the training session, could include:

• a single space sufficient to simulate the operation of a voting station and/or counting centre;

• room for the training group to break into small discussion or exercise groups;

• where required by training aids or sessions conducted at night, electricity supply and lighting systems.

It is important that intended venues for training are checked in advance to ensure that these basic facilities are available, and that water and toilet facilities and electricity supply (where required) actually work. School classrooms can often provide excellent training venues, but will be limited as to available times for use.

Facilities and Materials

Facilities and materials available at the training venue fall into two groups--the essential, without which training cannot proceed, and the optional, which may improve training presentation. Essential materials and facilities would include:

• training manuals and training aids;

• materials for group exercises and revision assignments;

• sufficient election materials, forms, and equipment (ballot boxes and seals, voting compartments, voting machines/computers where relevant) for participative use during the training session;

• spare staff procedures manuals and workbooks (or manuals for all staff attending, if these have not been distributed earlier);

• writing materials, including large sheets of paper for presentation of results of any group exercises;

• equipment on which training aids depend, such as overhead projectors, video recorders, television monitors, audio equipment, and the like.

• name tags for all participants;

• access to food and drink, especially for longer sessions.

Where training programs depend on training aids equipment, it is more cost-effective to seek venues already equipped (if available) than to purchase or lease such equipment solely for voting operations staff training purposes. All equipment to be used during the training session should be thoroughly checked by the trainer before the commencement of the session to ensure that it is working (and that the trainer knows how to operate it).

Optional facilities could be presentation aids such as black or white boards and appropriate writing materials, pointers, or staff comfort facilities for tea and coffee.

Set-Up Of Training Venue

The training venue should be set up well in advance of the commencement of the session.

This will both use the group's time more effectively and allow early identification (and replacement) of any missing materials and equipment. Requirements for materials and set-up of the venue should be comprehensively detailed in the trainer's manual (see Training Reference Materials).

Group Organisation

Experience in general has shown that when skills training groups have more than 15 or 16 members, the opportunities for skill practice and group interaction during the training session become limited. This should be the maximum group size. Where there are more than that number of staff in a single voting station, it may be preferable to train these staff together as a group.

However, once training groups contain more than twenty-five to thirty members, achieving any training effectiveness is difficult, particularly if those conducting the session are not professional trainers. Cost advantages of training larger groups are irrelevant if such training is ineffective.

In setting up the training session venue, trainers should consider the needs of participative training; for example, arranging lecture-style rows of desks with seats behind them creates barriers between trainer and trainee and discourages group interaction.

However, the needs and comfort of the group take precedence, both in seating arrangements (where some more participation-inducing styles of seating may be seen as too confronting by groups culturally attuned to a less participative educational style), organisation and frequency of rest and meal breaks, smoking restrictions, etc. On comfort issues, trainers should regularly consult with the group.

Encouraging Participation

Care should also be taken to encourage participation in group work and any simulations by women and minority community members of the training group who may not normally have such open opportunity. Where the group has to be divided into smaller groups for particular training activities, trainers should also ensure that small groups members are assigned so as to bring a range of experience and personality styles to each small group.

Use of Training Aids

When using training aids, it must be remembered that these are aids to facilitate communication of specific issues. They are not the substance of training. Too heavy a reliance on static training aids can become expensive and limit the opportunity for interactive learning and skills practice that is the basis of acquiring task competencies.

Apart from the important use of election materials and equipment in simulations of voting station activities, aids that could normally be used include:

• Procedures manuals, detailing in simple language and/or pictorially the procedures to be applied by voting operations staff; wherever possible, staff should be provided with these manuals in sufficient time for them to have read them prior to their training session.

• Staff workbooks, in which voting operations officials, either before, during, or after their training are required to answer questions on their duties and return these for checking by trainers as an aid to knowledge assessment (see Knowledge Assessment); where there are separate training sessions for staff having specific functions to perform (particularly where they are involved in delivering special voting services  separate functionally based workbooks for knowledge assessment in these different functional areas will be useful.

• Overhead projections are useful for summarising and emphasising key issues, but not for imparting large volumes of printed information; reliance on too many overhead projections can lead to the trainer spending more time talking to the screen than to the group;

• Video materials could be used in two ways: to set the atmosphere for the voting station environment, or to illustrate particular voting station procedures being carried out correctly, including such subjects as crowd control measures, security awareness, checking voter identity, issuing of voting materials to voters, use of voting machines/computers, packaging of materials, completion of voting station reconciliations, and documentation;

• Audio presentations of procedures may be useful, similar to videos, for procedures where there is meant to be verbal interaction between the polling official and voters, for example, checking of identity, checking the correct name on voters lists, and issuing voting materials.

Video materials should be used sparingly, as short procedural demonstrations of no more than three to five minutes at a time. They cannot be a substitute for practical work by the group, but they can be a useful introduction to simulations of particular procedures and can provide an attention stimulating break from the trainer's style.

Such training aids will only be usefully integrated into training programs if the facilities for their use are likely to be available in all the venues used. To design a training session around such aids, without knowledge of facilities available for their use, may be wasteful and may make the trainer's task very difficult, if not impossible.

Remote Locations

For some training needs, such as for staff of voting locations in a foreign country and in very remote rural areas, face-to-face training may not be possible and reliance for training will be placed on the aids developed.

In these cases, video and audio material, if the facilities for their use are available, can be of great assistance in demonstrating the procedures outlined in manuals and workbooks provided to staff. However, such video or audio media are useful additions, if cost-effective, but not essential for such training.

Timing of Training

There are a number of basic and often competing considerations in determining the most effective timing of training sessions for voting operations staff.

The weight given to each of these considerations will vary in election environments of different maturity and trainer resource availability, and be affected by:

• how much advance notice of the election is provided;

• the basic educational and literacy levels of staff recruited;

• the extent of any existing base of competent staff with experience in voting operations officials' duties. These timing considerations include:

• Knowledge retention: For how long can polling officials be expected to retain the information provided during training sessions? Allied to this are considerations of learning reinforcement--how many times do recruited staff need to be presented with the information before it is assimilated to an acceptable level.

• Knowledge absorption capacities: Particularly when commencing from a zero knowledge base, there can be limits on how much information can be absorbed effectively in a single training session. This will affect the effective length of training sessions and, therefore, the possible need for multiple sessions and their optimal timing.

• Evaluation of knowledge transfer: Sufficient time needs to be allowed between training and activation of staff to allow an assessment of their knowledge (see Knowledge Assessment) and implementation of remedial training or replacement of those who cannot reach an acceptable knowledge or skill standard.

• The election timetable: There needs to be an awareness of the timing of activities in the election timetable and the duties of different categories of staff in relation to these.

Training will be more effective if delivered in synchronisation with the election timetable and divided into different sessions to avoid information overload, particularly where the same staff are being trained for different functions. Thus, training in some activities--for example, early voting, or in assisting with packaging and dispatch of election materials--is better handled earlier than that for voting day or for the ballot count.

• The numbers of staff being trained: What time period is required for all staff to have effective training contact, given the trainer resources available?

• The training structure: For example, training under a cascade model will need to be commenced earlier than where all election staff are trained simultaneously.

• Affordability and cost-effectiveness: Each training session will have costs related to the venue, equipment, staff transport, and materials. Where training sessions can be timed to coincide with other activities, there can be cost-effectiveness gains.

For example, use can be made of opportunities for training where voting operations officials are involved in the packaging of election material for voting stations.

Timing Guidelines

In considering the optimal timing of training, it is more useful to work backwards from voting day, the point at which the bulk of staff will be actively employed. An appropriate aim is to have all voting station officials and count staff trained, whether single or multiple sessions are used, by around seven days before voting day.

Leaving training to any later will present problems in assessment of training effectiveness and providing remedial training or training replacement staff for those found to be inadequate.

It may also present training management problems given other tasks to be completed in the week before voting day. Conversely, if training is completed any earlier, knowledge retention levels may deteriorate.

From this "deadline" of seven days before voting day, other training timing can be determined. Particularly where cascade models are used (see Training Methodology), it would be prudent to allow around seven days between the completion of trainer training sessions and these trainers conducting sessions, whether these be by regional trainers for voting station managers or voting station managers for their staff.

This period will allow time for the newly-trained trainers to become familiar with the materials they have to present and the methods of presentation required.

The length and number of training sessions required for various officials may be as much determined by cultural expectations as the breadth of competencies to be developed. However, intensive session presentations of more than five to six hours in a day will tend to tax both the attention of the trainees and the energy of the trainers.

Staff for Special Voting Facilities

Where different training sessions are to be held for staff recruited for special voting facilities, and for general assistance with election operations tasks, these should be timed to coincide with the commencement of their tasks.

As there are considerably smaller numbers of staff involved, training timing will be less complex. For general assistance staff, training can be more cost-effectively conducted by combining an initial session at the commencement of their duties with continuing on-the-job sessions as new tasks come due under the election timetable.

For special voting facility staff, formal training, as for general voting station officials, should again aim to be completed around seven days before their duties commence.

Electoral District Managers

Where electoral administration at a local level is undertaken by temporary staff--in the roles of returning officers, local election commissions, or regional administrators--it is more effective to maintain a continuous register of potential staff and provide them with continuous refresher training. If these staff are recruited only at the commencement of an election process, their training should be undertaken immediately.

Use of Briefing Sessions

Formal training sessions can usefully be augmented by less formal refresher sessions in the last week before voting day, depending on affordability. For example, if voting stations are set up on the day before voting day, involvement of polling staff in this activity will reinforce their roles and assist in building team relationships.

Most importantly, the hours of duty for voting station officials on voting day should be structured to allow a briefing session for all staff, by the voting station manager, prior to the opening of the voting station. This is vital to provide an opportunity for reinforcement of procedures in the "real life" environment, and also as the only effective means of transmitting to all voting station staff any changes in the voting environment or procedures that may have occurred in the time since they were trained.

Opportunity for the same style of briefing or refresher session should also be provided before the commencement of the ballot count.

Electoral management bodies must maintain regular contact with their voting station and counting managers on any procedural or environmental changes between their training session(s) and voting day.

Continuous Training

Where permanent electoral management bodies are in place, there is considerable cost-effectiveness in attempting to maintain contact with voting operations staff, particularly senior voting station staff such as voting station managers. Not only does this assist in recruitment for future elections, but it can also provide a continuing training environment.

Continuous training need not be face-to-face formal sessions. By use of simple means such as regular low-cost newsletters, providing invitations to visit electoral administration offices or events, or even by merely maintaining some social contact, election administrators can promote team-building activities, provide information on changes to voting frameworks, systems, and procedures, and reinforce knowledge already gained. This will then provide a sustained basis of knowledge which intensive pre-election formal training can extend, rather than commencing the intensive training phase from a zero knowledge base.

Using continuous training strategies can provide significant advantages when applied to more senior officials in environments where cascade training structures are used. Even allowing for inter-election drop-out rates, cost-effectiveness is maintained.

Knowledge Assessment

It is important that voting operations managers are satisfied that voting operations staff have sufficient understanding of their duties to undertake them competently in the pressured atmosphere of voting stations and counting centres.

Poorly performing staff in voting stations can disrupt the voting process and at worst, through incorrect application of voting or counting procedures, result in challenges to election validity. Knowledge assessment methods are also an integral part of the performance evaluation of training programs (see Evaluation of Recruitment and Training).

Integrating Assessment into Training Session Activities

It is preferable that the knowledge of staff undergoing training is assessed before they leave the training session. This could be a continuous assessment process during the session.

For this style of assessment, performance during simulations and in group activities is a useful guide, though care must be taken to ensure that less extroverted personality types or those for whom past gender or previous discrimination practices have induced a less participative manner are equitably assessed.

Integrating knowledge assessment into the training presentation in this fashion is cost-effective, requiring no special assessment materials or additional time. It is also a most practicable method in societies of lower literacy. However, assessment using this method does require good training skills:

where relatively unskilled trainers are being used in a cascade training approach, it will have limitations.

Staff Self-Assessment

At the end of critical points in the training program, the trainees themselves may be asked to identify areas where they believe they require further information or training to undertake their duties competently.

These concerns can be addressed through additional individual counseling during training session breaks, or modification to the remainder of the training program to allow additional revision and further discussion of areas where the group in general requires more information.

Use of Workbooks

Alternatively, staff could be required to complete workbooks containing questions on their required knowledge, either during the training session itself or in their own time. To provide a stimulus to learning, confirmation of employment can be made dependent on satisfactory completion. As an additional refinement, workbooks and answer sheets may be separate documents, so that the trainee keeps the workbook for continued review.

Questions and exercises in the workbooks should be related to specific issues covered in the training session and covered in the appropriate manual (see Training Reference Materials). This method will require the print and distribution of a large quantity of additional materials, and also place additional demands on the time of trainers, so it has some cost disadvantages.

Awards

Awarding of certificates to voting operations officials who have successfully completed training programs, and whose competencies in their tasks have been assessed as sufficient, can be a useful method of stimulating interest during training. Arranging for voting operations official training, particularly where it contains trainer training components, to gain accreditation under technical education schemes can also stimulate interest, both in voting operations official recruitment and training participation.

Training Reference Materials

Training manuals are better developed as an additional resource, specific to the needs of trainers for assisting the delivery of information to staff.

Training manuals need to fulfil a different function from voting operations staff procedures manuals, though their content is based on the staff manuals.

Each type of training session should generate its own specific training manual or guide. The training manuals should provide the structure within which trainers present their material. In outline form, the material that needs to be covered in the training manuals includes:

• the overall objectives of the training session;

• trainer preparation required;

• materials required for the session;

• guidelines for effective presentation;

• the learning objectives--that is, what polling staff should know or be able to do by the end of each module or topic area in the session;

• a schedule of the training session, topic by topic, indicating start and finish time, location, training method, and presenter (if more than one presenter is used);

• a detailed lesson plan for each module (see below for further details);

• evaluation sheets for trainees to complete at the conclusion of the training session;

• copies of any overhead projections or audio/video material to be used during the session.

Individual Training Module Lesson Plans

Standard lesson plans for each module of training are necessary to ensure that different trainers present the same material at training sessions, in a standard, proven effective fashion.

Well-developed lesson plans are particularly important when large numbers of trainers, many of whom may be relatively inexperienced in training, are being used in cascade-style training structures. The lesson plan should guide trainers as to:

• what to say;

• what to do and when to do it;

• which issues group discussion or questions should be directed towards;

• how to set up, focus, control, and achieve the required objectives from any group participation activities. Module lesson plans should:

• define the type of presentation, whether lecture, small group activity, large group activity, simulation or role play, exercise, review/testing, demonstration, or otherwise;

• detail the materials that are required for presentation of the module--audio-visual aids (overhead projection, slides, video, etc.), equipment, or election materials;

• detail any space requirements, including placement of furniture, size of room, outside location, or the like;

• define the module objective (for example, "to demonstrate how to set up a voting station in the approved layout");

• define the learning objective of the module;

• criteria for the trainer to use in evaluating the success of the presentation;

• provide a detailed plan for the presentation of the module.

The presentatio plan should include a listing of all the segments in the module (introduction, explanation of task, conduct of group exercises, revision and testing, objectives and direction of discussion, summing up) with the timing of these segments. What the trainer must say, do, and use in each of these segments should be clearly defined.

Points in the presentation where particular training aids are to be used, and references to be made to staff manuals, should be clearly indicated.

Trainees Reference Materials

All voting operations staff should receive a training kit--if possible, prior to attending their initial training session to allow them to become familiar with its contents. Sufficient quantities of the kits should be produced to allow all voting operations officials to retain it after completion of training.

The kit should include, in addition to the relevant procedures and activity manuals, training workbooks, deployment and other administrative information, a full, clearly marked sample set of the materials which staff will be required to use in their activities, including sample pages of a certified voters list, sample ballots, official forms, envelopes, packaging slips, and checklists. All sample materials should be clearly stamped or marked as samples.

Training will be more effective if trainees can handle real election materials rather than merely listen to others talk about it. Provision of this material also enables more realistic group exercises on matters such as proper completion of forms and allows for realistic simulations of voting station activity.

Trainer Training Material

To reinforce the messages of trainer training sessions, it is useful if prospective trainers can take with them, for reference during their training of other voting operations officials, a guide to effective training methods and presentation. This need not be lengthy, but it can cover in point form the most important aspects of training others.

Issues that non-professional trainers will find helpful for continuing reference during their training duties will include brief statements on:

• skills training approach, as distinct from an education approach;

• setting up an effective training environment--venue, breaks, recognising attention spans, consultation with trainees;

• instructions on how to operate any equipment required as training aids;

• equitable treatment of each individual trainee;

• module time management to achieve training objectives;

• understanding the human learning and skills acquisition processes;

• directing trainees towards competency objectives;

• effective frameworking, revision, and summarising of information provided;

• imparting values, quality expectations, as well as procedural information;

• directing question and answer sessions and group exercises towards group learning and practical skill demonstration;

• equitable methods of assessing each trainee's competency in performing the required tasks;

• self-evaluation of the trainer's performance. 

Security Force Training

Where security forces are going to be heavily involved in voting operations security, and particularly in societies emerging from conflict or in transition to democracy where security forces may have been closely associated with particular political participants, it is imperative that they receive training in appropriate general behaviour and emergency responses during the election period.

In low security-risk environments, where security forces have a tradition of political neutrality, general electoral management body and security force liaison, or the activities of operations centres, may be sufficient to make specific election training for security forces superfluous.

Training Content

What is vitally important is that security forces members fully understand the impact their actions--intentional or unintentional, while on election security duties or not--may have on perceptions of freedom and fairness of the election process.

Implementation of training on emergency response tactics and operations, following strategies agreed by the security forces and the electoral management body, is a matter for security force commands. However, it is useful for electoral management bodies to have input into course content, especially with regard to treatment of voter and candidate/party rights issues, and to monitor that training is undertaken to the extent and in the manner intended.

There is generally little necessity for security forces to be familiar with the detail of voting and counting procedures. However, a general understanding of voting operations processes, and a thorough knowledge of what constitute offences under election laws and rules, is essential.

Electoral management body advice in the preparation of relevant training material and sections of security force manuals  can be of considerable assistance and will ensure that the training is conducted on a basis of correct understanding of electoral procedures.

Issues to be Covered

Specific issues that would be included in security forces training programs include:

• expected performance standards of security forces in relation to human rights and elections;

• a summary of the environment for the election, election/voting operations processes, logistics, and voting arrangements;

• methods of providing voting operations security in a disciplined, low profile, and professional manner;

• liaison arrangements and communications strategies with electoral management bodies and officials, including emphasis that security force members are at the service of and act at the request or direction of election officials regarding election security;

• details of potential threats to election security (to voters, political participants, community organisations, and officials) identified from risk assessments as relevant to the pre-voting day, voting day, and post-voting day periods;

• threat response strategies, including simulations where practicable;

• details of plans of action and deployment strategies relevant to the training session participants;

• particularly in societies emerging from conflict, the specific security needs for the initial meetings of elected institutions.

Emphasis in the performance standards training module should be placed on issues such as:

• requirements for fundamental respect for all human rights in election security matters;

• avoidance of intentional or unintentional acts of intimidation, discouragement of participation, or prevention of legally-sanctioned access to voting operations services by voters, electoral administrators, polling officials and political participants and their supporters;

• strict requirement for neutral and non-partisan behaviour during the election period and in responses to all election situations;

• accountability of security forces for their actions.

It is important that there is extensive consultation between security forces management, electoral management bodies, and community or human rights groups in the development of training materials covering this content.

Method of Training

Given the large numbers of security force personnel to be trained, there is really no option but to use a cascade method for training.

Senior security force trainers would usually undertake the initial training of their own training staff. There is considerable value in using election managers, and human rights specialists, for delivering their relevant segments in such training sessions, and also being on hand to answer any election process questions. The numbers of levels in the cascade will depend on the complexity of administrative and geographical units within the security force structure.

However, a training or briefing contact officer within each security force unit, with election security responsibilities, will be essential as a conduit for briefings and any additional training materials and evaluations.

In societies emerging from conflict, or where security forces have a history of political alignment, training for security force trainers would generally be better conducted by international security trainers.

These international contractors can also continue to monitor that accurate guidelines continue to be conveyed throughout training programs, particularly with regard to human rights, professionalism, subordination to electoral managers, and neutrality issues.

Timing

Training in election security, and particularly its human rights aspects, is a worthwhile addition to normal security force training programs, from induction to senior promotion courses. Training for specific elections should be scheduled to coincide with the commencement of the earliest election activity.

Voter registration campaigns may require as much security as political campaigning, voting, ballot counting, and result announcement period.

Evaluation of Recruitment and Training

Evaluation of voting operations staff recruitment and training programs is necessary to provide a guide for future improvements. More importantly, if instituted as an integral and continuing part of recruitment and training processes, it can provide early warning of deficiencies and allow the chance to rectify these before voting day.

As with all evaluations, a starting point should be the objectives and performance standards set as an essential part of the planning and management of recruitment and training programs. Such standards would cover performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, integrity, and service.

Recruitment Process Evaluation

Evaluation of recruitment processes is oriented towards assessing whether recruitment methods are:

• delivering the quantity of staff required;

• encouraging applications from those with sufficient basic skills to be trainable in voting operations roles;

• Retaining competent staff with prior election experience.

In assessing these factors, evaluations would address issues such as:

Are potential staff being targeted effectively in recruitment processes?

• are these processes too narrow in scope, or conversely too broad, to interest those with the right basic skills;
• are there particular, suitable occupational or community groups that could be specifically targeted;
• are more frequent recruitment messages required;
• are there advantages in maintaining continuing contact with staff from past elections?

Are the assessment selection criteria appropriate?

• do these adequately test the basic skill levels required for the specific voting operations tasks;
• were the criteria properly applied in selecting applicants?
• Is voting operations employment sufficiently attractive to attract applicants with a suitable skills base? If it is not, are there any means by which conditions of service can be improved to induce applications? Such improvements need not be monetary. Consideration could first be directed towards cost-neutral solutions such as:
• increasing position prestige;
• arranging for voting operations staff training to be recognised for accreditation as a module of general educational qualifications;
• voting operations staff service providing future work preference for other public employment;
• ensuring prompt rather than increased payment.

However, consideration may also need to be given to whether payment rates are adequate to attract suitable staff.

Staff Performance Evaluation

Each voting operations official should be subject to performance evaluation. For voting station officials, this would be logically done by the voting station manager prior to the finalisation of activities at the voting station, and included with reports on voting activities.

For voting station managers, roving officials, and other voting operations support staff, this could be prepared by the election manager for the electoral district. These performance appraisals serve two functions:

(1) as a formal recognition of the staff member's services which they may use in future employment, and

(2) as a future recruitment reference for voting operations managers. Performance evaluations can indicate those staff who are suitable for re-employment or promotion to polling official positions of greater responsibility at future elections.

The appraisals should be based on objective criteria, which should be made known to staff at their training. A useful format is as a checklist of performance ratings (poor to excellent) against expected duties, punctuality, voter service qualities, which could be augmented by a general comment noting potential future capacities.

All staff should be given the right to review and comment on their performance evaluations before they are finalised.

Training Evaluation

There are two basic, interrelated orientations to evaluations of voting operations staff training:

• determining whether sufficient information has been understood by polling officials to enable them to carry out their duties competently on voting day, i.e., an assessment of individual learning 
• Determining whether the methods, information content, scheduling, and locations being used are appropriate to the skills transfer needs, i.e., an assessment of the training environment.

Implementation of continual evaluation programs during training is necessary so that knowledge levels of staff and effectiveness of training presentation methods can be assessed and any remedial measures put in place, if at all possible, prior to the commencement of their duties.

Continual evaluation is especially important where cascade training models are being used. Where multiple training sessions are scheduled, either in dealing with staff in a cascade manner or multi-day sessions, feedback on method appropriateness and coverage can be converted into improvement during the duration of the training program.

If staff knowledge is assessed as requiring further training input, additional training sessions may be the only answer for senior polling officials such as voting station managers.

For more junior staff, the most cost-effective solution may be to ensure that briefing sessions in voting stations, prior to the opening of voting, thoroughly cover subjects where staff knowledge is lacking. At the very least, such assessments will provide the basis for improving training activities for future elections.

Training Evaluation Methods

There are a number of methods by which such assessments can be implemented:

• integrated assessment programs implemented during training sessions, through the monitoring of group activities, and knowledge expressed during simulations and role plays;
• training session or home activities in the form of question and answer books that can be later collected and assessed by trainers;
• completion of evaluation forms by staff on completion of each training session;
• monitoring of and reporting on training sessions by voting operations managers;
• monitoring how staff perform on voting day.

While the last method is an important part of training evaluation, it is not recommended that it be the only method used. To wait until voting day to assess whether staff have sufficient knowledge may be useful in terms of assessing overall effectiveness of training methods and whether staff are suitable for future employment, but it is likely to allow inefficient staff performance during the election.

Where staff complete such home exercises, it is important that they receive individual feedback on the accuracy and appropriateness of their answers to such exercises. Not to do so not only alienates staff, but runs the risk of their continuing to apply any incorrect understanding of procedures.

Feedback from Trainees

An important aspect of determining the appropriateness of training styles and methods, and gaining an impression of where staff may require further training for voting operations competencies, is to ask the staff themselves.

This can be done formally at the conclusion of training sessions through completion of questionnaires addressing such issues as:

• the appropriateness and comfort of the venue and its facilities, ease of transportation access, length of sessions, breaks, opportunities for questions;
• the relevance of the material presented and any areas in which trainees believe they require more information or practice;
• the appropriateness of the styles and methods of training delivery used--which were effective in imparting information to the trainee and which were not effective (for example, use of lecture formats, role playing, demonstrations, expert presenters, small and large group exercises);
• an overall self-assessment of competence in the required duties;
• Suggestions for improving future training sessions.

It is important that where these are completed by trainees, there is feedback to them from trainers as to how their suggestions and comments have been analysed and what future improvements will be implemented.

To augment this formal information gathering, trainers should actively engage in continual evaluation communication with the trainees, for example, during meal breaks and at the commencement and close of each session to determine where knowledge gaps still exist and trainees' preferences for presentation styles.

Independent Assessments

Evaluation of training sessions by staff independent of the training process can also identify where improvements, particularly in delivery style and facilities need to be made.

This additional method should always be used where contractors, rather than electoral management body staff, are used for training purposes, and at least a sample of training sessions at the lower levels of a cascade training structure.

Training for Parties and Candidates

It is in the interests of voting operations administrators that party officials, candidates, and their representatives are very familiar with the legal, procedural, and practical implementation aspects of voting processes.

Considerable unnecessary disruption can be caused by party or candidate representatives, particularly in voting stations and during the ballot count, if they are not aware of the correct processes and issue challenges or complaints on the basis of an imperfect, or lack of, understanding of the processes to be implemented and their legal basis.

Similarly the integrity of the foundation of voting processes--the nomination of candidates and party groups--may be threatened if political participants are not aware of the correct procedures to follow for their nominations to be accepted.

Training Responsibilities

Political groups have the primary responsibility to ensure that their officials, candidates, and representatives have a correct understanding of voting operations processes.

However, a little time spent by voting operations administrators in pro-active training or briefing sessions, and also in the production of reference materials for political participants, may save considerable administrative energy on additional dispute resolution and action justification at periods when task pressure is already high.

It may also reduce instances of patently ill-founded claims of irregularities being publicised, and thus unjustifiably affecting public perceptions of the integrity of voting operations administration.

Training and Briefing Sessions

Ongoing liaison between voting operations administrators and political participants is necessary, and the scheduling of specific training or briefing sessions for political participants does not derogate in any way from the responsibility of the electoral management body to ensure such liaison occurs regularly in an equitable and transparent manner throughout the election period. Specific training or briefing sessions on voting operations issues will clarify rights, roles, and responsibilities in the minds of political participants.

In developing training and briefing sessions for political participants, consideration needs to be given to content, timing, and most importantly, ensuring equitable opportunity for access, so that there is no perceived bias towards specific political participants. The number of sessions that can be held will depend on other pressures on voting operations administrators.

A minimum of two should be considered, with a third preferable. Where elections cover a large geographic area, holding these sessions on a regional basis should be strongly considered, to enable equality of access to all candidates and their representatives.

Timing and Content

With regard to timing and content, effective scheduling would include:

• a session just prior to, or upon the commencement of the nomination period, covering nomination procedures , codes of conduct, campaign rules, any candidate or party expenditure or finance rules, media access, security, election materials, voting station locations, challenges to administrative decisions;

• a session around a fortnight before voting day, (or prior to the commencement of any period for early voting if this occurs earlier), covering voting and counting procedures, voting station layouts, rights, roles and responsibilities of polling officials and party or candidate representatives, accreditation of party and candidate representatives, voting procedures, counting procedures, challenges to voters, challenges to ballot counts or results.

A third session, basically as an administrative progress briefing and opportunity for public airing of any problems, difficulties, or misunderstandings arising during the voting operations period to date, could be scheduled for around midway through the campaign period.

Session content and presentation should leave political participants in no doubt as to their rights and responsibilities in participating in and observing voting processes, as well as the sanctions that may be applied should they breach their code of ,or similar responsibilities.

At such briefing or training sessions, accreditation forms for party and candidate representatives at election sites should be made available

Attendance at Voting Station Official Training

There is also merit in inviting equitably selected representatives of parties and candidates to voting station and counting official training sessions. If staff training capacities are sufficient to accommodate such additional participants, this may be a cost-effective way of covering such issues as voter eligibility, voting procedures, and observer rights and responsibilities.

Accredited party and candidate representatives should also be invited to be present at any voting day briefing sessions conducted by voting station or counting centre managers for their staff.

Equity Issues

In terms of maintaining transparency and equity in this process, consideration should be given to the following:

• sufficient notice should be given, and accessible locations chosen, for such sessions to enable attendance.

• for pre-nomination briefing or training sessions, there should be wide public announcement of their availability, particularly in systems where candidates not aligned to registered parties may nominate, as well as invitations to registered parties.

• any materials distributed at briefing or training sessions should also be sent to representatives of registered parties or nominated candidates unable to attend.

It is also useful to keep a transcript of proceedings at such briefings, particularly of questions from party or candidate representatives and their answers, to be provided to those registered parties or candidates unable to attend, and as a record of the information given.

General Governance Issues

In societies in transition to democracy, training for potential candidates, and later for successful candidates, on general governance issues and roles and responsibilities of elected representatives will also be important for a successful outcome to any election process.

These issues would generally be seen to be outside the responsibility of electoral management authorities, though such bodies may see it as useful to play a stimulating role in development of such training.

Special Manuals and Handbooks for Political Participants

It is useful to produce a specific manual or handbook for the use of political participants, detailing the correct processes that will be applied by voting operations staff and the actions, responsibilities, and rights of political participants during this phase of the election

For comprehensive coverage, such handbooks should include sections dealing with:

• contact details of electoral management body officials who can provide further clarification and assistance;

• participation of parties in the voting operations process and their rights;

• correct presentation of party and candidate nominations;

• checking processes for nominations and criteria for acceptance or rejection;

• determination of party and candidate order on the ballot (if relevant);

• codes of conduct for political participants and election officials;

• media access rules;

• campaign rules;

• election security measures;

• provision and accessibility of election materials, including any rights of political participants to distribute these to voters;

• voting station siting and layouts;

• eligibility of voters;

• voting procedures, including those for any special voting facilities such as absentee voting, voting by mail, mobile voting stations, voting in a foreign country;

• roles, responsibilities and authority of voting operations administrators and polling officials;

• roles, rights, and responsibilities of party officials, candidates and their representatives in relation to voting procedures, voting locations, and voting operations administration;

• procedures for the ballot count, including criteria for determining validity of ballots (and valid preference marks, where relevant), aggregation of counts, and announcement of results;

• roles, rights, and responsibilities of party officials, candidates, and their representatives in relation to counts, result determination, and announcement;

• rights, methods, and procedures for challenging decisions made by voting operations administrators, polling officials, and counting staff;

Such handbooks should be available to political participants well before the commencement of the period for nominating candidates or party groups for the election.

Multiple copies of political participants' code of conduct and accreditation forms for their representatives should also be made available both through electoral management body offices and to offices of registered parties and candidates.

Provision of Election Staff Manuals

It is also useful to provide to the office of each registered party or political group and independent candidate running in the election, a copy of the general administration manual used for voting operations by the electoral management body.

Manuals and reference materials produced for voting station officials and counting staff should also be distributed.

Not only may this assist political participants in their understanding of the manner in which voting operations will be conducted, but it further emphasises the transparency of the actions of the electoral management body. It is reasonable, for reasons of cost, to restrict the number of such documents that will be made available to each political group, with the responsibility of intra-group dissemination being on the political group itself.

Where cost considerations are such that providing additional copies of these documents for all political participants is not possible, public access to them should be arranged and publicised, at electoral management body offices, and/or at public libraries or similar research locations, where photocopies or other notes of their contents may be made.

Training for Observers

Training of independent observers would normally be under the control of the observer group's management.

Giving election administrators the responsibility for or control over observer training will raise questions about observer independence, and may result in a narrow training focus on election technical practices.

However, on specific election technical issues, such as political or human rights background and application of election laws and procedures, it may be appropriate to include presentations by electoral management body officials and human rights or legal groups in observer training programs.

Training Scope

Independent observer training has in some ways a broader reach than training of actual political or official participants in the election. It has to impart:

• a thorough understanding of the election system and procedures;

• the tools to undertake a critical yet positive analysis of election activities;

• an attitude of neutrality, impartiality, and non-interference in election matters;

• an effective knowledge of observation administration procedures.

For international observers, there will also be a need for cultural and political background information.

In post-conflict situations, this may include techniques for communicating with election participants who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Cost considerations may well affect the extent of observer training. In most situations, it is preferable to have fewer, reliable, and well-trained observers than to provide very limited training in order to maximise the number of observers involved. By recruiting, wherever possible, observers who already possess the basic skills and experience for election observation, training costs can be minimised

Training Plans

The extent of additional knowledge needed by independent election observers, particularly those from international organisations, usually means that it is unlikely that training can be accomplished in a one-day session. This should be considered in developing observer deployment plans.

Effective training timing and planning will depend on the scope of the observation.

For longer-term observations, training sessions on each aspect of the election process as it is about to commence will reduce information overload and maintain information relevance and freshness. In longer-term observations, core staff engaged at the commencement of the observation program will be available, with their store of experience gained, to conduct training sessions for any large numbers of observers assigned to voting and counting locations.

For most independent observation environments, the majority of observers may not be in place until very near voting day. This means that there may be insufficient time to implement more structured cascade methods of training for observers scattered in the field.

Use of mobile training teams or pre-deployment centralised training methods may be more practicable. For an effective training outcome to be achieved, consideration needs to be given to general learning principles in conducting any mass training of independent observers, including:

• restriction on training group size--fifteen participants is ideal, over thirty excessive--to allow maximum participation and evaluation of individual knowledge, or at least breaking up into small groups for interactive exercises;

• use of comfortable, effective locations and training aids;

• recognition of information absorption and overload factors;

• inclusion and encouragement of simulations, role playing, and interactive activities to stimulate learning and develop tactful, effective information-gathering techniques;

• encouragement of questions at all stages of the training.

Training Updates

Training for independent observers cannot be seen as a one-shot, static formal exercise. To get the most out of observation activities, regular training activities should be undertaken, particularly for longer-term observation programs.

These need not be formal training sessions, but could include simple exercises such as regular briefings or other communications for observers in the field to notify them of any changes in voting operations activities and any issues that have arisen that may require more intensive observation.

Training Content

For ease of training observers and continuing observer field reference, content of training is better based on a comprehensive observer manual.

Detailed training session agendas will differ for longer-term observers and those observing only voting day and the count. A sample agenda for observer training would include the following modules:

• pre-voting day distribution of any training or reference materials not yet provided to observer group;

• introduction of trainers and participants (check that all have necessary materials and arrange distribution of spares to cover deficiencies);

• purpose and objectives of training session;

• outline of session coverage, activities, and administrative arrangements;

• outline of observation organisation's nature and goals, including specific objectives of current observation program;

• observation program administration arrangements, including accommodations, payment, transport, deployment, emergencies, and the like;

• communications strategies, procedures, and responsibilities;

• personal and group security;

• political and cultural background to the election, including the nature of elected institutions;

• legal, regulatory, and administrative framework of the election system, including relevant contact points;

• election timetable;

• election procedures and practices;

• effective monitoring practices and responsibilities;

• criteria for free and fair elections;

• observer code of conduct;

• specific issues to be paid particular attention during observation;

• illustrations of particular situations of concern that may occur, including any rights of complaint or challenge;

• observer reporting responsibilities, materials, and time frames.

Throughout all modules, use of interactive exercises, simulations, and periods for questions and answers, as well as regular "stretch and re-focus" breaks, should be included. Without these, not only may interest levels wane, but evaluation of trainee's information absorption will be more difficult.

Timing and sequence of more interesting and less interesting activities should be oriented towards attention spans and the ubiquitous post-lunch attention drift.

Considerations for International Observer Groups

As members of international observer groups may not be familiar with the cultural, political, and administrative environments in the country to which they have been assigned, their training programs will generally need a broader focus than those for local observers (see International Observer Training).

International Observer Training

Not only in content but also in format, there are particular considerations in developing training programs for international observer groups. In addition to the issues discussed at Training for Observers, as international observers are in an environment with which they are unlikely to be familiar, particular emphasis during training is required on:

• observer administration, logistics, and communication procedures;

• basic living and survival issues, such as accommodation, food, fuel supplies, and personal and group security;

• political and cultural background to the election environment, and the system of elected representation.

These issues may well encompass at least one full day of training, and are the immediate priority on observer arrival.

Training Session Format

With regard to format, international observer groups will often include persons with different language skills and a range of expectations of training environments, from those who expect fully interactive training participation to those for whom accustomed training is little more than a series of lectures.

These differences within international groups must be recognised in developing training programs, and evaluating and providing guidance to individual participants.

There is a requirement for clarity of expression, of course, particularly in oral communication, a more deliberate training pace, a mix of culturally relevant examples, and care in the use of group participation exercises.

Effective training of international observer groups could be seen as a four-stage exercise:

• provision of observer reference manual prior to the departure from the home country (for initial core groups of long-term observers, it would also be advisable to provide some political/cultural background and relevant election system briefings at the observer groups headquarters, if the budget allows);

• provision of training on administrative issues and environment/background issues immediately upon arrival at the election observation location;

• after allowing time for absorption of this data, training on detailed election procedures;

• monitoring of information retention by observation management and provision of follow-up training, briefings, or communications as needed.