Ensuring Readiness

In the period immediately prior to voting day, electoral managers need to carefully review that all planned actions have been undertaken and that voting operations will be ready to operate effectively at the scheduled commencement time on voting day. Important elements of this review include assessing that:

• Voting station equipment and materials have been delivered and acknowledged by voting station managers;

• All voting sites are in a state of readiness;

• arrangements for staff transport to and from their duty stations, whether through private means or provided by the electoral management body, are confirmed (see Transportation of Voting Station Officials);

• ealistic contingency plans for materials, staffing, or voting site problems on voting day are in place (see Contingency Plans).

Where deficiencies in materials deliveries have been found, arrangements for replacement supplies must be promptly made (see Distribution and Receipt of Voting Materials).

Readiness Reporting

Carefully monitoring the results of readiness reviews becomes more important to the central management of the electoral management body in the lead-up to voting day.

In the week before voting day, daily reports on the state of readiness in each electoral district should be obtained from electoral district managers.

Distribution and Receipt of Voting Materials

• strict controls need to be exercised over the implementation of delivery plans for voting station materials and equipment to ensure that materials and equipment arrives at each location

• in time,

• according to planned delivery schedules;

• in the correct quantities;

• security is maintained throughout.

Delivery to voting stations can generally be more effectively undertaken from central or regional packaging centres than from local offices.

Delivery methods will vary according to available resources and the security environment. In low security risk, urban areas, it can be cost-effective for voting station managers to pick up their voting station's materials, apart from bulky equipment, from the electoral district management office.

This could be combined with a refresher briefing session for managers in the days before voting day. Highly accountable materials could be stored in local secure storage until voting day. However, this method is only suitable in environments of low security risk and high public trust.

It would be more usual, and prudent, to arrange for secure delivery of all voting station materials through transport contractors. In some circumstances, assistance from the military or other state agencies with widespread available transport resources can be a cost-effective means of delivery. However, this would only be suitable where such agencies are publicly accepted as non-partisan.

Timing of Delivery

It is preferable that all equipment and materials are present at the voting station or with the voting station manager at the latest on the day before voting day. In rural areas, slightly earlier delivery may be necessary to ensure enough time for the resupply of any deficiencies.

However, delivery too early to voting stations, especially in areas of higher security risk, increases the potential for loss of or tampering with supplies. Public perceptions of election integrity may also suffer if liable voting material is stored for longer periods outside of high security stores.

Voting station delivery arrangements will be made more complex and costly where there are delays in materials supply, or where essential items cannot be produced until immediately before voting day (e.g., in systems where certified voters lists are open until the day before voting day).

The effects on materials delivery reliability and costs should be assessed when determining procedural and legal frameworks and production schedules for voting materials preparation.

Delivery Documentation and Receipt

Deliveries of materials for voting stations should always be accompanied by delivery documentation specifying the types and quantities of materials delivered. This would preferably be a full/partial copy (depending on the delivery method adopted) of the standard "materials pack" contents list or materials/equipment inventory prepared for each voting station.

It is best that voting station managers are on hand to take delivery of their voting station's materials. Receipts should be issued for all materials delivered.

This acknowledgment of delivery should be returned to the electoral district management office. Receipts returned to the electoral management body may need to be completed in two stages:

• An initial acknowledgment of receipt of the delivery.

• A formal notification that all materials have been correctly supplied, after the voting station manager has checked.

This detailed notification is an essential part of maintaining a verifiable audit trail for all liable materials and equipment.

Checking Material on Receipt

It is vital that voting station managers thoroughly check the materials against the inventory of expected supplies for their voting station as soon as the materials are received, and immediately advise their electoral district manager of correct delivery or of any discrepancies. Electoral district managers should monitor that these reports are received.

Deficiencies would require prompt implementation of contingency plans for materials ressupply (see Contingency Plans Even materials delivered in pre-packaged "pack" form can contain errors in quantities or materials missing on delivery. Special attention needs to be paid to:

• Ballot boxes, to ensure the correct number and type have been delivered, and that ballot box serial numbers or other codes are correct for that voting station;

• voters lists, to ensure the correct list, or lists, have been delivered for that voting station and that they are complete, without missing or misprinted pages;

• ballots, to ensure complete supply and that no numbered ballots or ballot booklets are missing;

• ballot box seals or locks, particularly that locks have the correct keys;

• other accountable materials, such as voting station seals or perforating instruments for validating ballots, and ink and associated equipment for marking voters, where used;

• voting compartments, to ensure that they are functioning and present in the correct quantity;

• Essential general supplies, such as pens and pencils, where these are to be used to mark ballots, legally-required instructions to voters, and packaging for used and unused accountable voting material.

Even counter foiled, numbered ballot booklets can have missing ballots. Loosely packed ballots or ballot envelopes, particularly without numbered counterfoils, are even more susceptible to error in post-production packaging in standard bundles. It is essential that ballots, or, where relevant, ballot envelopes received at each voting station are counted on delivery and any discrepancy between delivery notices and actual stocks received formally noted in ballot accounting records.

These figures would then be used as the starting point for all subsequent ballot/ballot envelope accounting calculations. For non-accountable and general purpose materials, an exact check count would not be necessary.

It is also important that equipment necessary for voting station operations, such as voting machines or computers, lamps for detecting invisible ink marks on voters, bar code readers for voter identification cards, or emergency power generators are installed and tested as soon as possible after receipt. To leave this testing on site until the morning of voting day may leave insufficient time for replacement or repair.

Transportation of Voting Station Officials

Basic Issues

Ensuring that officials appointed to voting stations have transportation available to enable them to report for duty is an essential issue in ensuring voting station readiness.

In the week before voting day, electoral district managers, through their voting station managers, need to review that acceptable transport arrangements, both to and from voting stations, are in place for all voting station officials. All hired transport arrangements for voting station staff should also be reconfirmed with contractors at this time.

Provision of Transport

To ensure that voting station officials arrive at their voting station on time, it may be necessary for the electoral management body to arrange transportation through shuttle buses or similar arrangements.

Clear notice as to departure and arrival times should be provided to all staff, preferably with the voting station official's appointment documentation.

Voting station managers should confirm that all their officials know and understand these transportation arrangements.

Provision of special transportation for voting station officials can be necessary particularly in environments where:

• there is low private vehicle ownership and public transportation systems are unreliable;

• security risks are high, necessitating the escort of voting station officials to and from duty by security forces.

Travelling as a group in a single vehicle will make protection of voting station officials' safety easier.

While additional costs may be incurred, in these circumstances it is a small price to pay to ensure that all staff can report for duty.

Rural and Remote Areas

While it is preferable that voting station officials be appointed from within the local community, there will be occasions where officials have to be imported to rural and remote areas. Transport arrangements need to ensure that:

• staff are transported in sufficient time to undertake all their duties effectively;

• reliable transport is provided, so voting station staff are not stranded in a remote area;

• particularly in remote areas, voting station officials are able to report their arrival and departure to the electoral district manager (radio equipment in the transport used may be necessary for this).

Where staff duties involve recruiting and training local assistants or taking delivery of materials and setting up voting stations, staff may need to be transported several days before voting day. Similarly, if long distances are to be travelled, it is unrealistic to expect staff to drive all night and then function effectively in a voting station in the morning.

Where overnight stays are involved, suitable accommodation and food also needs to be arranged. It is important for staff performance in these situations that care is taken; a tired and hungry voting station manager and staff may not perform at their best during long hours of duty on voting day.

Developed Societies

In developed societies, it is not unreasonable to expect that voting station officials make their own way to and from their duties, though a transportation allowance may need to be paid, especially where travel distances are considerable.

Any potential transportation difficulties should be requested from and discussed with staff at the time of their appointment; cost-effective arrangements through use of staff car pooling and the like can often are made.

Mobile Voting Stations/Roving Supervisors

Transportation arrangements for mobile voting stations need also to be planned in advance. In urban areas, mobile voting stations would normally require access to a vehicle. Car rental would be usual, though paying transportation allowances to mobile voting officials for using their private vehicles can be more cost-effective.

In remote areas, mobile voting stations may need access to air or water transport to access all voting locations on their route. Availability of such transport at a reasonable cost must be taken into account when assessing viable mobile voting station routes and itineraries. It is important that any required air or sea charter arrangements are made early; leaving them to the last minute can result in excessive transport costs.

Any roving voting station supervisors  will also require access to a vehicle during voting hours and the count. Suitable vehicles should be provided for the terrain and, if acting as a mobile emergency materials supply source, materials cartage as well.

Readiness Reviews

In the period immediately prior to voting day, electoral managers need to carefully review that all planned actions have been undertaken and that voting operations will be ready to operate effectively at the scheduled commencement time on voting day.

Important elements of this review include assessing that:

• Voting station equipment and materials have been delivered and acknowledged by voting station managers;

• all voting sites are in a state of readiness;

• arrangements for staff transport to and from their duty stations, whether through private means or provided by the electoral management body, are confirmed ;

• realistic contingency plans for materials, staffing, or voting site problems on voting day are in place

Where deficiencies in materials deliveries have been found, arrangements for replacement supplies must be promptly made .

Readiness Reporting

Carefully monitoring the results of readiness reviews becomes more important to the central management of the electoral management body as events move even more swiftly in the lead-up to voting day.

In the week before voting day, daily reports on the state of readiness in each electoral district should be obtained from electoral district managers.

Multi-Day Voting

While it would be more usual for regular voting to occur on a single day, under some election systems or circumstances, voting may take place on several days.

Multiple day voting would generally fall into one of the following broad formats:

• an initial round of voting to establish the leading candidates with a second round at a later date to determine the election winner

• voting being conducted on different days for electoral districts in different geographic areas;

• provisions for the same voting station to remain open for voting for more than one day in a single round election;

• special forms of voting, such as early voting or mobile voting stations, being held for more than one day.

Multiple Rounds of Voting

Systems requiring two rounds of voting will place additional organisational pressures on voting operations managers:

• They will generally lead to significant rises in voting operations costs through higher use of materials production and staffing for voting and counts, logistics, and security.

• Where "mark choice" ballot papers are used, there will be severe pressures on ballot production and distribution for the second round.

Operational planning will need to carefully and separately consider the requirements for each round of the election and address what efficiencies can be found through ensuring that at each round of voting:

• the same premises/locations are used for voting stations;

• the same staff are used as voting and counting officials;

• forms are, as far as possible, designed for common use at each round.

Material production and distribution for the second round, in general, will need to be carefully planned.

Staggered Elections

The progressive conduct of elections for electoral units in different geographical areas can provide efficiencies where election equipment, logistics capacities, security capabilities, and staff expertise are scarce resources, or where the sheer size of the voting population makes single-day elections difficult to manage.

If coordinated by a national electoral management body, multi-day voting can allow resource sharing and better capabilities. Particularly for such important components as training and security, the ability to stagger requirement in different geographic areas can allow for the best use of scarce professional resources.

Disadvantages of this method mainly relate to control of count and results information and the possibility of tensions or security problems being exacerbated by a lengthy period for voting:

• On the one hand delaying counts until all voting is completed may promote accusations of malpractice. It will also require return of material awaiting the commencement of counts to well-secured central locations.

• On the other hand if votes are counted and results are announced immediately, to promote public confidence, they may affect voting behaviour or promote attempts at manipulation in areas voting later.

Multi-Day Voting at Same Location

Holding of voting over more than one day at the same location presents administrative challenges in delivering services in a secure and cost-effective manner. It can, however, afford the opportunity for electoral administrators to make adjustments to services to compensate for any initial problems with logistics, staff allocation, or application of procedures.

In looking at these challenges, it is useful to distinguish between multi-day voting concerned with:

• special voting facilities, such as early voting

• operation of ordinary voting stations. This section is concerned with the latter circumstance.

While it is more usual that voting in an election occurs on a single day, there are circumstances where, because of system constraints (such as insufficient voting stations), cultural factors, or to enhance access to voting opportunities, voting occurs at the same location on multiple days.

Whether it is a cost-effective method of organising voting will depend on the cost structures in the particular environment.

However, the direct costs (such as additional payments to voting station staff) and indirect costs (security availability, and any goodwill costs in maintaining public confidence) are likely to outweigh the costs of providing additional voting locations (additional staff training and recruitment, transport, materials, and security). Its benefits depend on the degree to which it enhances voter access and turnout. This may have particular appeal in countries with very large voter populations or without a history of mass voting.

The following sections deal with issues that need to be considered when planning and operating voting stations that will be open for voting for more than one day for a single round of an election.

Security

Multi-day voting places extra demands on security forces to maintain an adequate presence at voting stations.

Particularly in high security risk situations, their ability to meet these demands needs to be carefully considered in determining the practicality of a voting period of more than one day and the voting locations used. Furthermore, security presence overnight will need to be considered if it is likely that voter unable to vote by close of voting on one day stay overnight near the voting station in order to vote the next day.

It is preferable that voting material is not transported from the voting station until voting is completed. Therefore, voting station locations and the material within them must be secured between the closing of the voting on one day and opening of voting on the next.

Only where there is a high degree of trust in state authorities by all political participants should alternatives such as deposit of the material overnight in police or security forces safekeeping be considered.

Voting Station Premises

As material will need to be secured overnight, temporary structures or open-air facilities may not be suitable.

Materials and Equipment Management

All materials and equipment should still be delivered to the voting station prior to the commencement of voting, unless there are local, specific reasons (such as transport capacity or security) that make staggered delivery cost-effective. For some materials and equipment, the levels supplied will depend on the number of days over which voting occurs.

Particularly where combined with larger voting station traffic, planning for multi-day voting should allow for increased levels of reserve equipment, such as ballot boxes and voting compartments, in case of damage during the voting period.

Ensuring Transparency

It is important that representatives of the political participants are able to verify the integrity of election material throughout the voting period.

In circumstances of extreme distrust, this may require the physical presence of political party or candidate representatives at all times from the commencement to the close of voting, even when the voting station is closed overnight. This should be carefully co-ordinated to avoid conflict.

More practical solutions emphasise the manner in which ballots and other voting material are stored during the voting period. Durable ballot boxes would preferably be used, rather than cheaper cardboard or other non-durable material.

At the close of each day's voting, and the commencement of the next, the condition and sealing of ballot boxes containing completed votes cast should be recorded by senior voting staff and witnessed by party or candidate representatives present.

Other material whose integrity is essential for the successful outcome of the election should also preferably be stored overnight in sealed ballot boxes, and if not, in other secure storage. This would include:

• voters lists,

• unused ballots, and

• completed forms for absentee voting, assisted voting, challenges to voters, and voting eligibility for voters not on the voters list,

• seals, and fraud control equipment such as light sensitive ink.

The sealing of these at close of voting each day and their unsealing at commencement the next day should be recorded by senior voting staff and witnessed by party and candidate representatives present.

Capacity Planning

Multi-day voting makes capacity planning more difficult, particularly if it is occurring for the first time in a country or in a transitional election. It is not simply a matter of dividing expected voters by the number of days of voting and thus establishing expected daily voting station traffic.

Analysis of the potential voter population's daily work patterns, the impact of voter information campaigns on voters' understanding of when they may vote, transportation schedules, and past time patterns of voter turnout are useful in determining likely attendance on each day.

In the absence of any historical patterns, basic voting station location and resourcing capacities should consider meeting a potential turnout of between two-thirds and three-quarters of the total potential voters on a single day.

But voter turnout may not be logical; societal traits or the specific election environment may determine the number of voters from the start of the first day of voting compared to the numbers of final day voters. Ensuring the maintenance of voter service entails planning a reserve capability to increase traffic capacity (by using additional staff) on the final day.

There are administrative means of staggering the turnout over multiple voting days. Potential voters may be administratively split and assigned particular days to vote. This may be effective if done on a geographic basis, but is more likely to cause voter confusion if done on other bases, such as name or employment type. Sensible administrative measures would include electoral administrators' liaison with parties and communities to attempt to schedule any mass transport to voting stations in a staggered fashion over the period of voting.

Hygiene and comfort

Multiple day use of a voting station means that daily cleaning arrangements for the voting station and other facilities, such as portable toilets and replenishment of water supplies, need to be considered.

In less developed countries particularly, voters may have had a long and arduous journey to the voting station, and may wish to stay overnight if unable to vote by the time the station closes on the day of their arrival. If facilities are not available for this, there is the potential for disruption, and possibly violence. Choice of voting station locations and security planning should take this into account.

Staffing Allocations

Working in a voting station involves long hours and is a potentially exhausting experience. The more days of voting, the greater is the need for trained reserve staff to cover illness and absenteeism, and as a precaution for a higher than expected turnout on a single day.

It is sensible to set basic staff to voter ratios higher than for single-day voting and to allow for more frequent rest breaks for staff, particularly when the same voting station staff are conducting the counting. This will offset any apparent staffing efficiency of using fewer, larger capacity voting stations for multiple voting days.

Voter Information

There are some additional voter information messages to be conveyed in a multi-day voting situation (for general voter information issues. In addition to advising of locations and hours of voting, voter information messages in the days before voting day can help in distributing the turnout over the available days.

Apart from use of media, such assistance can be given by staggering the scheduling of any local or street-based "reminders to vote" during the voting period. During the initial voting day, turnout statistics need to be monitored to determine if there is an immediate need for additional voter information placements, either generally or in specific areas. The potential need for these is also a consideration in management of the voter information budget.

Unplanned Multi-Day Voting

There are also significant administrative differences depending on whether the multi-day voting schedule has been planned as part of the election process, or is a response to deficiencies encountered in general or in particular locations on voting day. Limited, defined allowance for such responses is a prudent component of the election legal framework.

Relevant deficiencies could include:

• late or non-delivery of essential material and equipment;

• adjournment of voting due to threat, violence, or natural disaster;

• an inability to process during voting hours the voters who have turned out to vote (an indication of major planning deficiencies);

• a judgment that voter turnout on the specified voting day is insufficient to give credibility to the election.

In these cases the effectiveness of contingency planning  is critical to the success of the extended voting period.

Extension of voting to a further day, or days, is not a decision to be taken lightly, not only for its affect on resourcing, but as it may delay finalisation of vote counts beyond the planned and publicised dates.

Responsibilities for making such decisions are better assigned to the senior executive of the electoral management body and defined in the elections legal framework. In some environments, laws requiring judicial and/or executive government endorsement may be appropriate.

Maintaining public confidence in such circumstances will require additional measures such as:

• ensuring that any partial count results are not publicised before the completion of all relevant voting;

• ensuring that ballot material is handled securely and transparently throughout the extended period;

• mobilising additional resources to allow the publicised count timetable to be followed as closely as possible.

Contingency Plans

Contingency plans are an important part of voting operations management plans in all environments and circumstances. The time critical nature of voting operations requires backup plans to enable quick reaction to operational failures or changes in the social or physical environment.

Developed contingency and backup plans are vitally essential where processes or systems are being operated for the first time or in environments undergoing social dislocation. Ideally, contingency plans should identify flexible options adaptable to specific situations; it is generally not possible to foresee every possible contingency.

Operational Focus

Contingency planning needs to address several broad areas where system or other failures, or events over which voting operations administrators have no control, may affect the ability to deliver voting operations services effectively according to the standard plan. These can include:

Operational or management difficulties in particular voting stations: These may be staff failing to report for duty, communications links being severed, or particular materials or equipment not arriving on schedule. These could well be handled at the voting station or in conjunction with local representatives of the electoral management body.

Breakdowns in general electoral management or supply systems: Such contingencies would include general logistics failures, in transport, mail or communication systems, production failures for essential items such as ballots, voters lists and election forms, and inability of computer systems to perform to expectations.

As these affect overall capacities and effectiveness of voting operations, implementation of contingency plans would generally best be taken at a more central election management level, by senior election administrators in a position to take a broad overview of the effects of responses on all aspects of the election process.

Physical or social environment disasters: These would include fire, flood, earthquake, social upheaval, or other disturbances. These may affect voting operations as a whole or be limited in their effect to a single or small number of voting stations. As decisions may need to be made about postponement or adjournment of voting in these circumstances, involvement of senior election management in determining the appropriate response to such occurrences would be necessary.

Decision-Making Responsibilities

Not only should contingency plans present a clear framework for emergency decision-making and the contingency options available, but they should also firmly establish the responsibilities for determining the implementation of such plans and the trigger points at which such decisions must be made.

They must specifically define for which contingencies determination can be made at a local level, those for which decisions must be made by senior executives of the central electoral management body, and those for which other agencies of state must be consulted or involved in such decisions.

Without such a defined framework, there is a risk of local decisions being made on issues of wider significance; such decisions may be inconsistent or fail to address the root causes of the problems.

Contingency Plan Content

Contingency plans should identify:

• the nature of the contingency;

• the operational impacts of the contingency;

• the feasible responses;

• the financial implications of the responses;

• any effects on other processes.

Feasible responses, financial implications and flow-on effects are likely to vary according to the timing of contingency plan implementation decisions; information on these variations should be included in the contingency plans.

Recognition of Process Interdependence

Given the interdependency of election processes, it is important that contingency planning does not treat each voting operations activity as a discrete task. It should follow through the future effects of contingencies in one area, which may not be within voting operations activities, on subsequent activities. For example:

• unavailability of planned voting sites will affect materials distribution, staff deployment, and voter information activities;

• failure of voters lists printing systems may require preparation of lists in a different format, which voting station staff will need to be trained to use;

• Late redistribution of electoral districts will affect the timing of candidate nominations and the identification of voting sites.

Realistic Planning

Contingency plans must be realistic and effective. There should be a mechanism for determining which alternative contingency plans are implemented, taking into account their cost-effectiveness. Whatever the particular task that may need backup or contingency facilities, the basic aim is to have sufficient voting sites, adequately resourced to enable all attending voters to vote. In crisis situations, performance against other objectives is subsidiary.

Systems failure may often be due to excessive complexity for the environment. Creating contingency plans of similar complexity, or entailing considerable expenditure to effect only small increments in performance or service would generally not be cost-effective.

Materials Contingency Plans

Building Reserves

In preparing contingency plans for voting station materials, issues that are significant to consider include:

• the quantities of reserve materials that it is prudent to hold;

• where reserve quantities of materials are to be held, and in this regard, both available storage locations and the ability to transport from the storage location to voting stations are relevant;

• the provision of emergency transport arrangements--e.g., vehicles and drivers and, for remote areas, possibly air transport--for delivery of contingency materials.

Potential Problems

Problems that may occur with materials supply for voting day would generally fall under two broads categories:

A failure in production processes leading to unavailability of materials. This could be either through a breakdown in production (so that no, or insufficient, material has been produced in time), or errors in production have resulted in unusable materials (e.g., ballots with incorrect candidate or party information).

It would be a grave lapse in production quality control processes if unusable materials were produced.

Failures in materials distribution, so that materials have not reached their intended voting station destination at the required time. This could occur through breakdowns in shipping arrangements or errors in addressing supplies for distribution.

Reserve Quantities of Materials

Appropriate reserve quantities of materials will vary for different types of materials and in different environments. Contingency reserves quantities must address a balance between maintaining cost-effectiveness and being able to meet reasonable contingencies for essential materials. Appropriate reserve quantities would generally fall within the range of 5 percent to 10 percent of expected usage.

However, contingency reserve level would prudently be increased if:

• there is little confidence in overall potential voter figures, through lack of recent updates of voter lists, particularly when combined with provision that allow voters to register on voting day, or otherwise claim a vote;

• there is a large variety of types of voting facilities available, or where there are no strict restrictions on the voting station at which a voter may vote, making "micro" predictions of voter turnout more difficult;

• there is automated mail-out of ballots which can be subject to high wastage rates.

As with normal supply of materials, contingency materials can be more efficiently processed if packed in discrete emergency supply kits.

Location of Reserve Supply

Reserve supplies can only be useful if they can be rapidly delivered to replenish materials shortages.

Centralised contingency supply arrangements generally are not conducive to achieving this. For that reason, it is imperative that contingency materials be held at a regional, or sub-regional level. In general, electoral district managers' offices would be the appropriate contingency supply centres for voting stations, and this need should be considered when office premises are selected.

In electoral districts covering large geographic areas, sub-regional secure depots may need to be leased for the supply period.

Emergency Transport for Materials

Contingency materials are of little use if no method of delivering them to voting stations has been arranged.

Particularly for remote areas, lack of early planning of delivery methods can result in substantial costs if, for example, air transport has to be arranged for immediate delivery. In urban areas potential methods would include:

• providing roving voting station supervisors with suitable vehicles and security so that they can also function as a mobile emergency supply repository;

• maintaining emergency supply vehicles and drivers attached to the electoral district manager's office during the voting period. In a more rural environment, where voting stations may be at considerable distances apart, practical solutions may come at a higher cost.

Attachment of transport facilities to secure emergency supply depots set up for the voting period in significant population centres may need to be considered, depending on transport distances to all voting stations from the electoral district manager's office.

Staffing Contingency Plans

Basic Issues

To meet staffing crises that may emerge during voting election administrators should ensure that reserves of staff are available. Allowance should be made for allocated staff not reporting for duty or voting stations being swamped by higher than expected numbers of voters.

Organisation and deployment of these contingency staff would generally be more effectively implemented at a local or electoral district level. The shorter the chain of command, the swifter the response is likely to be to staffing emergencies. Holding reserves at a central location may result in more complex logistical requirements to get staff into the field.

Location of Emergency Staff

Crucial decisions involve not just how many emergency staff are to be recruited but also where contingency staff should be located during voting hours. A balance between cost-effectiveness, considering both staffing and logistics costs, and the ability to swiftly cover for staffing emergencies and maintain a good level of voter service has to be sought.

Different environments, in terms of transport links, logistics, geographic areas to be covered, and expected needs for contingency staff, will affect the manner in which emergency staff are deployed. Possible solutions include:

Having a small number of contingency staff report for duty to each voting station.  The disadvantages of this method are that it limits flexibility to a certain extent and is relatively costly. The need for additional staff will not generally occur in an equitable manner, but is more likely to be concentrated in a few voting stations. This method may also be wasteful of resources, in catering to a pessimistic scenario at every voting station.

Locating reserve officials at electoral district managers' offices or other local electoral management body offices or depots. While this will give greater flexibility in despatching staff to required voting stations, its effectiveness will depend on transport availability and the geographic area to be covered from each office.

Transport needs to be on hand for such emergencies--not only vehicles but also drivers, to enable the return of vehicles to these offices for further use.

Where roving senior officials are used as field supervisors , assigning trained emergency staff who may be re-assigned to voting stations duties in emergencies as their assistants

This provides:

• some flexibility of response within the roving officials' relevant areas of responsibility,

• uses vehicles already in use for travelling between voting stations, and

• provides the benefit of the roving supervisors' assessment of the situation at voting stations with staffing emergencies.

This method will be limited in use to areas suitable for coverage by roving officials.

Arranging for emergency staff to be on call at home. There could be arguments for this in some areas where officials are appointed from the local communities. There may be some cost advantages if these staff can be paid on-call rates (as opposed to the emergency staff automatically reporting and being paid for duty whether used or not). However, it is only likely to work effectively where:

• public communication systems are reliable, and

• private means of transport is more common (or contingency staff live nearby to the relevant voting locations), and

• election administrators can be sure these staff members will remain on call throughout voting hours.

Emergency Staff Appointments on Voting Day

Plans for staffing emergencies should also consider the fact that contingency reserves of voting station officials may prove to be insufficient. While, hopefully, this will not occur, election administrators and the legal framework for the election should recognise this possibility.

It may be possible to use administrative staff from electoral district managers' or electoral management body offices as voting station officials in emergencies.

These staff members will at least have the advantage of being familiar with some voting processes. However, staff available from this source will generally be very limited in number, and the effect their reassignment to voting stations may have on administrative support during voting must be carefully assessed.

The legal framework for the election could allow voting station managers to appoint additional voting station officials on voting day, in defined circumstances, such as inability to operate the voting station effectively due to failure of officials to report for duty or absence of staff due to fatigue or illness. Where such appointments are made, the voting station manager would need to ensure that these persons sign a contract of employment, as well as the code of conduct and declaration of secrecy or similar documents required of all voting station officials.

It would be preferable if these untrained field-appointed staff were used in less complex tasks, such as exit control or guarding ballot boxes. Election administrators need to ensure that these persons are entered in payment and service records.

Appointments of this nature need to be firmly monitored by the electoral management body to ensure that they are justified in terms of required resources and that the persons being appointed are suitable, in terms of impartiality of actions, to act as officials. The voting station manager should seek advice from the electoral district manager's office before taking this course.

In highly politically charged environments, it may not be possible for all political participants to be satisfied with the impartiality of such field appointments; it may be prudent, therefore, to take the safer, yet more costly, path of a higher level of normal reserve staff recruitment and appointment.

Voter Turnout Contingency Plans

Basic Issues

Contingency planning related to voter turnout issues may need to address situations that include:

• voters turnout overall, or in particular areas, is much less than expected, possibly to the extent that it may threaten the legitimacy of the election result;

• voter turnout overall, or at particular voting sites, is much greater than expected, or is resulting in higher than expected levels of peak period activity.

Methods of addressing these problems will depend on the following considerations:

• the flexibility allowed by the legal framework in revising voting hours and procedures to accommodate the actual circumstances and the ability to adjust staffing or facilities available in voting stations;

• contingency reserves of staff and materials that can be made available

Voter Turnout Less Than Expected

Whether voters decide to vote or not would generally be a decision purely for the voters themselves. Low turnout may well be an indication of the perceptions of voters of the legitimacy of the election process or the quality of the nominated candidates or parties.

However, there are some particular situations where a less than expected voter turnout may need to be addressed by the electoral management body. The following are some examples of potential situations.

Minimum Voter Turnout Requirements in the Law

Some legal frameworks establish minimum voter turnout requirements for the election to be valid. In such situations, it would be generally inappropriate for the electoral management body to take action, other than through increasing the intensity of publicity campaigns during the voting period urging people to vote. Any other actions could be perceived as aligning itself with leading candidates or parties.

Where contingency planning must be implemented immediately--where it appears that turnout may be below any required minimum--is in preparations for a re-run of the election within the time period allowed by legislation.

Transitional Elections

In transitional elections particularly, a low voter turnout may affect public perceptions of the election legitimacy or acceptance of election outcomes. In environments where there is little history of mass voting, this may be as much the result of voter uncertainty or unfamiliarity with voting hours and processes as any dissatisfaction with the election process.

In such circumstances, decisions may need to be made as to whether to extend the hours (or days) of voting, to implement of related contingency information campaigns, or to provide assistance for voters to attend to vote. These are decisions that would be appropriate to make at a central level following legal advice and consultation with the political and any international participants in the election.

Disasters

Natural disasters (e.g., flood, fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, landslide, avalanche, or anaconda) or intimidation may prevent significant numbers of voters from going to vote. Again, response to these would be more appropriately determined at a central level after consultation with all relevant interests.

Occurrences affecting single voting stations may be handled at the local level.  Use of joint operations centre structures will assist in coordinating responses.

Voter Turnout Greater Than Expected

Competent election planning should accurately assess the numbers of voters likely to turn out at each voting station and allocate effectively the resources required to service expected voter turnouts. However, there are situations in which contingency plans to cope with additional voter turnout should be developed. These circumstances would include:

• at the time of selection of voting sites, there is doubt about the accuracy of voter population figures;

• election systems have no requirements for voter registration before voting day, or are likely to result in significant numbers of voters registering on voting day itself;

• election systems give voters a wide choice of voting stations to vote (initial action would preferably be to redirect excess voters to other nearby voting locations whose resources are being less fully utilised);

• for cost-efficiency reasons, resourcing of voting stations has been calculated on a specific proportion of registered voters turning out to vote;

• Peak periods of voter activity are more intensive than expected, leading to unacceptable delays for voters voting.

Contingency measures for dealing with higher than expected voter turnouts would generally be directed towards:

The ability to increase the resources available to service voters during the voting period:This would require contingency planning for the delivery of additional materials.

Extending the period available for voting: Where voter turnout has overwhelmed available voting station resources, large numbers of voters may still be outside the voting station, waiting to vote, at the close of voting. Flexibility in legal frameworks for extension of voting under specific circumstances can be useful to deal with such circumstances. Particularly in transitional elections, altered processes may result in estimation of turnouts and voting station resourcing of lesser quality.

Decisions on extension of voting hours would be appropriately made at a central election management level according to any processes allowed by the law and consultation with the political and any international participants in the election