Each election takes place in a context that is affected by political, social, historical and cultural factors. Administrative and cost factors also impact upon the electoral process, and specifications of these will differ depending on electoral systems, countries and geographical regions.
Historical Overview
Public Decision-Making: Public representation has been part of early systems for community decisions making. This took place through choosing persons to represent the views of populations (and later to act as bodies of governance). This public representation relied on simple means, such as a show of hands, in ancient Greece by the dropping of ceramic tiles in assigned positions, and in some Asian and Pacific societies through structured group discussion leading to community consensus.
The viability of this form of public representation is inappropiate in extensive and diverse contemporary societies.
Individual Focus
From the later stages of the nineteenth century societies became increasingly individualist. The gradual spread of the secret ballot, in order to protect the views of individuals in societies, brought about more formalised voting processes and with them needs for more formal, accountable administrative structures for voting and the provision of a wider range of voting materials. This need was heightened by parallel moves towards the gradual widening of eligibility for participation in voting to embrace all sectors of societies.
Mass Voting
Mass voting brought with it a requirement for more complex organisation and administration, not only in the provision of facilities (voting sites, materials, staffing) to enable people to vote, but in the accountability processes required to ensure that voting involving large numbers of voters was managed in a fashion that provided integrity of processes, equitable outcomes, and the opportunity for all eligible persons to participate freely.
Responsibilities
The increasing potential participants in voting processes, complexity of voting processes, and numbers and powers of widely-elected institutions, gradually resulted in a change in perceived responsibilities towards participation in voting.
Voting operations evolved from a simple community based process into a process that required structured organization, planning, administration and implementation. Consistency of product, product variety and product information availability became paramount needs.
One of the great challenges currently facing voting operations administrators is to ensure that this requirement for consistency does not impede the ability to provide service to voters, recognizing them as individuals, living in widely divergent communities.
Contemporary Voting Concerns
Current concerns of voting operations remain focused on the dual requirements for voting secrecy and providing freedom and opportunity for all persons (subject to reasonable limitations on the basis of such criteria as age and residence) to vote, though in changing contexts.
The gradual introduction of technology into voting processes--through production of up- to-date voters' lists and the use of machines and particularly computers for voting--opens up more efficient and potentially more accountable and accurate ways of recording votes. It brings with it a new set of challenges regarding protection of voting secrecy where votes are recorded by electronic means, possibilities of manipulating systems for recording votes, and making these new technologies accessible to and understandable by all potential voters.
Social and Political Context
Appropriateness for Environment: The social and political environment has a fundamental impact upon the voting operations processes and the electoral system they serve. Effective processes will be specific to the given environment. Migrating procedures or transferring systems or practices that work in one country to another environment, with insufficient analysis of their relevance to or impact on the social environment or their acceptance by local populations, may result in ineffective operations. It is critical that voting operations processes:
• include sufficient control measures for voters and candidates to be assured of the integrity of the election;
• are capable of being understood by all election participants;
• are appropriate for the human skills and technological capacities available.
Physical and social geography conditions, including transport infrastructure, weather, accessibility, size of geographic area, population size and distribution, and skill levels of human resources available will have a large influence on appropriate methods for implementing voting processes.
Political and legal environment
Each society is governed by a regulatory and legal system that determines the limitations and extent of administrative and legal procedures. This applies to electoral processes where each country’s legal system establishes a framework for the conduct of elections and the role and functions of the electoral management body.
Each action or function undertaken by the electoral management body must be conducted in accordance with the regulatory or legal framework.
Security
Security levels provided both to voters and voting materials must be proportionate to the perceived and actual risks inherent in the electoral process. Each environment needs to be subject to security risk analysis to determine appropriate security strategies.
Fraud Prevention
Appropriate methods for preventing fraud will vary according to the risks in each political environment, and the levels of trust in the society at large. More intensive, costly and cumbersome measures will generally need to be taken to ensure election integrity in societies emerging from civil conflict. But at the very least, the election authorities should:
• ensure the integrity of ballots
• check voters eligibility to vote when they attend a voting station,
• protect election materials in general from theft or manipulation,
• provide effective and appropriate penalties for infringements of electoral legislation, regulations and codes of conduct
Literacy
Literacy levels need to be considered when developing materials, information programmes and recruitment and training processes for staff.
Cultural Differences
Voting operations may be simpler to implement in broadly homogeneous societies with a single standard language and common cultural expectations. Where societies contain a mixture of nationalities, cultures, and particularly language groups, providing a consistent level of service to all voters can become more complex. Materials, procedures and providing services should include information services and materials in different community languages
If cultural practices compete with democratic electoral processes a compromise may need to be established that respects traditional and cultural norms and practices and provides for them within the country’s electoral operations and practices.
Information Base
Voting operations is an information-intensive activity. In societies where administrative records of past electoral activities are not available, or not of good quality, it will be more challenging to target services appropriately and deliver cost-effectiveness in voting processes.
Post-Conflict Environments
Post-conflict environments require specific considerations. Measures to protect the integrity of voting will generally need to be more intensive to ensure that that the public has faith in the transparency, reliability and security of all processes associated with voting.
There are other organisational issues affecting voting operations that may be relevant. The electoral, legal and procedural framework in post-conflict and other transitional environments may still be in a fluid state during the election period and subject to continuing negotiation between political interests.
Development of contingency plans to meet potential framework changes becomes a very important part of voting operations planning in such environments.
Administrative Considerations
A number of important factors will shape the effective administration of voting operations. It is important to recognise that effective responses to these issues will be environment specific.
There is no one model that will be most effective in any situation, for reasons of resource availability, cultural environment, stages of technological development and the like.
Basic administrative considerations include:
• the goals and objectives of each task within the process of voting operations;
• the administrative structures, actions and time frames determined by legal and electoral management system frameworks.
• within any such restraints, a cost-effective administrative structure to ensure election integrity and service delivery;
• a calendar for effective delivery of election services;
• the resources that are required for effective planning and implementation of voting operations services to achieve the objectives within the expected time frames, and how they can best be acquired, managed and maintained;
•which organisations are to be involved in delivering voting operations services and what are their responsibilities.
• how information necessary for provision of voting operations services is best managed;
•how the performance of the administrative structures in implementing voting operations activities is to be administratively monitored and evaluated;
• The contingency structures required in case of management failure or changes in the environment.
There will be special factors relevant to these considerations in developing countries.
Administrative Structures
The focus of voting operations activity is at a local level, and effective administration structures will mirror this by providing focal points at the local level.
What is important under all administrative arrangements is that a core body of voting operations skills and knowledge is maintained and developed. Even where electoral management bodies are not permanent, programmes of regular skill revision and enhancement will give some readiness assurance, and prove more reliable and often less costly than recruiting and training new networks of voting operations administrative staff for each election.
Resource Acquisition and Maintenance
Voting operations is a complex resourcing and administration process; high speed, high volume, geographically dispersed, demanding quality and accuracy and with diverse inputs. It will require:
• timely arrival of inputs--ballots, forms, and equipment so that processes continue smoothly, yet not so early to create additional costs;
• intensive logistics support;
• careful planning of simultaneous and sequential interdependent tasks;
• a large workforce of varying basic skill levels that needs to be trained to perform specific tasks accurately and quickly;
• a market that has to be "sold" through voter information how and where to use the product and be convinced of the product's consistent quality (integrity, impartiality, service).
Planning of resource acquisition needs across the whole election cycle, commencing with thorough reviews of performance immediately on completion of an election to determine significant needs for the next election, will give greater assurance of readiness.
Time Frames
Major voting operations time frames, such as periods from announcement of election to voting day period for nomination of candidates, will generally be determined by legislation.
Management of Information
An important component of good voting operations administration is effective information management and analysis. This may be aided, or merely complicated, by the use of technology.
Performance Monitoring
Without continual monitoring of the quality and progressive completion of voting operations tasks, it is not possible to determine whether objectives are being met and responsibilities effectively discharged.
There is a particular need for intensive monitoring in the few days before and on voting day as this is a period of critical activity with little time to redress errors. Monitoring programmes should be built into the administration of all voting operations tasks to allow early identification of any deficiencies and their rectification.
At the completion of voting operations, internal and/or independent evaluation of performance of relevant activities is essential if future improvement is to be attained.
