Voter information campaign costs are often covered under voter education or communications’ budgets. This would include materials and other product design, production of printed and audio-visual materials, training and wages to temporary voter information staff (including those working on enquiry services), costs of media space or time for advertising.
Overheads
Patterns of work during the election period may give rise to increases in overhead costs. The electoral management body's permanent offices may be in use for longer hours, incurring additional expense for electricity, heating, cooling or normal building security services.
There are also likely to be significant additional quantities of normal office supplies required. Estimates of these costs will need to be included in budgets.
Insurance
Depending on the general legal frameworks for the insurance liability of agencies of the state, there may be a need for the electoral management body to take out insurance coverage, particularly for voters, voter education providers and voting station staff within voting sites.
Legal responsibilities for insurance coverage need to be carefully reviewed and the appropriate budget provisions made.
Challenges and Legal Costs
Where electoral management bodies do not have in-house legal counsel, or do not receive legal advice and representation free of charge from other government agencies, some provision should be made for costs of:
• legal advice required for any clarification of the legal framework;
• legal representation as a party to any court challenges regarding voting operations processes or election results.
• legal costs for alternative dispute resolution or conflict management.
Provision for costs of investigations of challenges and of any alleged electoral offences may also need to be made.
Minor Costs
Some provision should be made for petty cash requirements to cover small or emergency purchases by local election administration offices or voting station managers.
Technology Costs
When considering the appropriate level of technology to be used for various voting operations processes, cost factors must be a major consideration. Considerations for expenditure on technology include:
• operational and public image considerations,
• the services and reliability that are claimed for the systems,
The enhanced effiency that new technology provides for the electoral management body may be persuasive, but without rigorous cost-benefit analysis of new technology proposals, resources may not be used in the most effective manner.
Key Issues In Assessing Technology Cost-Effectiveness
Key questions to be addressed in relation to the cost-effectiveness of implementation of technology-based solutions include:
How much value will be added by implementation of the technology?: How much more will it provide in achieving any or all of the guiding principles for voting operations (see Guiding Principles of Voting Operations), compared to simpler, lower technology solutions?
How do the benefits compare to any additional expenditures required?
Is the level of start-up expenditure justifiable, given available total election funding?
Technology based systems typically do not produce cost benefits immediately, due the level of equipment, capital, training and other start-up expenditures. Given the rate of change in technologies, and potential trends towards decreasing costs for many automated solutions, picking the right time to acquire technology is also important for cost-effectiveness.
What are the ongoing costs: Careful consideration needs to be given to future costs of maintaining automated solutions, in terms of equipment or software maintenance, training, upgrades, license fees and the like.
If technological solutions are to be introduced, is it better to develop and implement them in-house, or to contract this out to specialists?: The lower initial costs of contracting out on a fee basis may be attractive, but there may be disadvantages. Reliance on an outside contractor for time-critical technology-based voting operations functions may leave the electoral management body open to problems of reliability. Careful consideration needs to be given to cost versus control and reliability issues.
What other alternatives are available for the use of the funds that would be required?: This is not a question just limited to alternative uses within the election budget. Funds used for elections in general are not available for other social expenditure.
