One pillar of professionalism in electoral administration is the ongoing proper training and development of core permanent EMB staff (if any); temporary management staff appointed for specific electoral events; and the large numbers of field staff that may be temporarily employed for large-scale events such as elections, referendums or census-style voter registration. The principles of good electoral practice — such as impartiality, transparency, voting secrecy, equality of access, accountability and efficiency — form the basis of all EMB staff training. Staff training and development is a continuous activity. Changes in electoral procedures and technology, and the time that elapses between elections, mean that even the most experienced staff cannot rely entirely on their experience.
As the chief electoral officer of Canada has observed, voters expect the same high standard of service from every one of his 190,000 staff, whether they are long-term electoral professional employees or temporary staff who have only received two hours of training.
Because staff training and development is not immediately tangible, as ballot boxes or voter education and information materials are, there can be difficulties in persuading governments to approve sufficient funds for this task. Training and development also needs to be managed by a sufficiently senior individual to ensure that it is an organizational priority, including in the budget.
