For permanent EMBs there are two distinct types of budgets: one for ongoing costs and one for events such as a voting registration update, a voter education campaign and an election. Different approaches may be taken to formulate the two types of budgets. An EMB’s approach to budgeting tends to reflect that of the public sector in its country, especially if it is bound by general public sector financial rules.
All budget processes are, ideally, linked to the goals and projects identified in the EMB’s strategic plan and related activity plan for the coming years. This linkage encourages a ‘programme’ or ‘performance’ approach to budgets, whereby EMB activities are separately costed and budgets are linked to specific output targets and objectives, as is done by the Australian EMB. Thus instead of having EMB- wide, generic budget categories such as staffing, forms printing, transport, security, regional office costs—which makes it difficult to determine the cost of any EMB service or product—relevant costs are budgeted and attributed to a specific programme or project, such as ballot paper printing and distribution, staff training, or information programmes for political parties.
Basing budgeting on the strategic plan greatly improves an EMB’s accountability for its use of public and other funds, and helps it focus on delivering cost-effective services. It requires all divisions within the EMB to have individual work plans that are tailored to its strategic goals, which identify the required outcomes, contain performance objectives based on measurable output targets and specify verifiable indicators that these targets are being achieved. Each work plan aims to achieve a particular objective that contributes to the EMB’s overall strategic goals, and has a specific budget structure. Linking the budget to the strategic plan in this way makes it easier to determine how effectively funds have been expended to reach each objective, and to determine where and to what extent funding requests may be cut, or need to be increased.
Within both the ongoing and election event budgets there will be many layers of detail. The budget submitted for approval often contains high levels of amalgamation; one figure will be provided for an entire functional area, such as political party registration or voter education. For internal purposes more detail will be provided, for instance showing the costs of people, office costs and materials within the budget for the functional area.
Different approaches may be taken to create these different budget levels. For instance, the EMB may be told by the finance ministry or parliament that the total budget for ongoing costs will be the same as the previous year, or will only rise in line with inflation (known as the incremental or baseline budget model). In such cases, the EMB then has to assess detailed costs related to the goals in the strategic plan and make choices that fit within the budget. In times of austerity, all state-funded bodies may be told that their budget will be cut by a certain percentage; again, the EMB has to choose between items in the strategic plan. In many stable democracies, the budget for an event such as a voter registration update or an election is calculated incrementally by increasing the previous budget to allow for inflation, and in some cases population growth. Again, the EMB then has to decide how to manage the event within that total budget while meeting goals from the strategic plan and accommodating rising costs.
An alternative budget-setting approach is the zero-base(d) model, in which each cost for an election, or election-related project, is estimated to find the total budget needed. A planning and finance section of the EMB secretariat may be responsible for these calculations, or it may be the task of each division to estimate the cost of performing its assigned tasks in the coming year. Costs for each area will then be checked for accuracy and justification against the strategic plan.
While the component costs of the previous year’s work or the previous elections are often used to assist in this process, each component of the budget has to be assessed and justified in the current context. This approach is often used when there have been major changes since the previous election, or if major changes are proposed, such as the use of voting machines or a change in the electoral system. EMBs are rarely given an open money chest, and so will still have to make choices within the set budget once spending starts and actual costs are higher than estimated costs, or if unexpected costs arise. When donor funding is project based, then the budgets are often created using this model.
