Voting areas are administrative units that are used only for conducting elections. They are contiguous geographic areas where all voters within the circumscribed territory are assigned to the same polling place. Voting areas are known by a variety of different labels, depending on the country. In Commonwealth countries, for example, they may be referred to as polling areas, voting or election districts, or election precincts.
Voting areas are necessary for the technical implementation of an election. A given territory must be subdivided in such a way as to enable voters to travel as conveniently as possible to a polling site and cast their ballots. In addition, assigning electors to voting areas allows election administrators to keep track of who is voting. This ensures that no one casts more than one ballot.
Most countries, regardless of the type of electoral system employed, delimit voting areas. Unlike electoral districts, where the type of electoral system determines how crucial delimitation is to the outcome of an election, the delimitation of voting areas has a minimal effect on election outcomes. Voting areas are used merely to collect votes; they are not used to translate votes into seats in a legislative or parliamentary body.
Because voting areas are used for election administration only, the delimitation of voting areas is not controversial and is normally left to the discretion of election administrators. Electoral laws or regulations, however, may specify certain criteria for delimiting voting areas.
Authority for Delimiting Voting Areas
The delimitation of voting areas is often performed by local election officials, but the delimitation may be carried out by federal election administrators. For example, the election commission in Ghana is responsible for drawing all political boundaries, from constituency (electoral district) boundaries to voting area boundaries.
In some countries, the same voting areas are used for all elections. In other countries, different voting areas are created for different elections. For example, in the United States, county election officials delimit voting areas for all elections: federal, state, and local. In Canada, a federal agency, Elections Canada, draws voting areas for federal elections, while provincial election administration authorities draw voting areas for provincial and local elections.
Criteria for Delimiting Voting Areas
Election administrators usually consider the following criteria when delimiting voting areas, even if no criteria are specified by law:
- population size
- pre-existing administrative and electoral district boundaries
- convenience and accessibility for voters
Although voting areas differ dramatically in size of population--within a country as well as in different countries--there is a minimum and a maximum number of voters that can be efficiently and effectively served by a single polling site. It may not be feasible to establish a polling site for only a handful of voters. On the other hand, assigning too many voters to a single polling site can result in long lines of frustrated voters waiting to cast their ballots at an election. The optimal minimum and maximum numbers vary, depending on local conditions and available resources and technology.
Administrative and electoral district boundaries should be taken into account when creating voting areas because these boundaries determine who votes for a particular set of offices and candidates at an election. If the boundaries of voting areas cross administrative or electoral district boundaries, election administration will become more complex. Different ballot styles listing different offices and candidates will be needed for voters within a single voting area. Producing and disseminating several different ballot styles within a single voting area can be complicated and expensive.
Convenience and accessibility are also important factors to consider when drawing voting areas. The boundaries of a voting area should be drawn around a polling site that is centrally located, easy to travel to, and accessible to all eligible voters assigned the polling site. Factors such as the time needed to travel to the polling site and accessibility to public transportation should also be taken into account. Some countries, for example, specify by law the maximum distance that voters can be expected to travel to cast their ballots.
The Need to Redraw Voting Areas Periodically
Voting areas may need to be redrawn because of population changes or changes to administrative or electoral boundaries. For example, it may be necessary to redraw a voting area if the area's population has grown too large for a single polling site or, alternatively, the voting area has lost population and it is no longer cost effective to keep the polling site operational. After redistricting, a voting area may need to be redrawn to realign its boundaries with the boundaries of the new electoral districts. If not redrawn, a voting area may be divided between two or more districts, complicating the administration of the election.
Many countries redraw voting areas on a regular basis, for example, after the redistricting of electoral districts or the completion of a voter registration campaign. Some countries redraw voting areas on an ad hoc basis, for example, whenever the voting areas become too large or too small.
Tasks of Delimiting Voting Areas
Two essential pieces of information for delimiting voting areas are:
- population data
- detailed local maps
Population data for delimiting voting areas usually consists of voter registration data. A reliable count of the number of eligible voters in the territory to be delimited is needed as well as information on the residential location of each voter. Accurate and up-to-date maps are also needed to delimit voting areas. The maps should clearly delineate local features and indicate the boundaries of administrative and electoral districts.
The first step in the process of delimiting voting areas is to obtain maps and mark relevant administrative and electoral boundaries. The next step is to generate a list of registered voters by location--by a street address, if possible. The number of voters on each side of the street, or at each location, is then counted and recorded on the map. After the voter counts have been recorded, election officials can begin to create or adjust voting area boundaries, tallying and re-tallying the counts with the assignment of each new piece of territory. Defining new voting area boundaries requires some experimentation to determine where boundaries must be moved to most closely match criteria such as population size and distance from a polling site. The process is similar to redistricting electoral boundaries, except that the territories involved are usually much smaller.
Conclusion
Voting areas are required to implement elections efficiently and effectively. Although the delimitation of voting areas is rarely a controversial process, it is an important one for the administration of elections.
