Two major control issues with absentee voting in systems where voters may vote at a location outside their electoral district of registration are:
• the supply of ballots to voting stations;
• ensuring that voters are issued the correct ballots.
In systems where normal voting is done with an enveloped ballot where each party list appears on a separate ballot and voters choose which ballot to use to make their vote, ballot supply requirements can make absentee voting outside the electoral district of registration very difficult to implement.
Even where voters have to mark their choice on a single ballot, ballot supply and issue to voters will be complex to control. There are two potential alternatives for the ballot format:
• Ballots showing full details of the candidates, parties or groups contesting the election on which voters mark their choices;
• Write-in or open ballots--blank ballots which are not printed with candidate, party or group details.
Similar considerations apply for ballots for early voting (see Early voting.)
Full Detail Ballots
Using full detail ballots in each electoral district for absentee voting ensures that the correct information is on each ballot, but will generally result in a more complex supply process.
Where voters register in advance for absentee voting, personalized ballot packs with full-detail ballots for each absentee voter could be pre-packaged and supplied to the correct voting station. However, this is an expensive and time consuming pre-voting day activity.
In other circumstances, a full range of electoral districts' ballots will need to be supplied to voting stations catering to absentee voters.
While this will ensure that all ballots issued are correct in detail, it will require very careful materials control in the voting station, particularly if there are large numbers of electoral districts engaged in the election.
Blank or Write-In Ballots
This method makes supply to and control of ballots within the voting station considerably easier, since the same ballot form may be used for absentee voters from any electoral district. How these ballots are completed will depend on the overall legislative requirements for ballot design. Where it is held to be important that the ballot displays all available choices to the voter, the voting station official issuing the ballot would generally be required to write on the ballot the required details for all contestants in the relevant electoral district. This will:
• slow the issue of ballots;
• require that all absentee voting locations be issued with lists of candidate, party or group details as they are to appear on the ballot for each electoral district;
• be subject to transcription errors by voting station officials.
A simpler system would be for officials to endorse the name of the relevant electoral district on an otherwise blank ballot, on which the voters, in the voting compartment, then write in the candidate or party for whom they wishes to vote.
This will maintain ballot issue speed. However, it will also depend on voter access to lists of relevant candidates or parties, and may be subject to a higher number of errors by voters, for voters to mark a preference is less complex than to write in a candidate or party name.
It is not a method very suitable for election systems where voters have to indicate more than a single preferred candidate or list in each election.
Possible Alternatives
Alternative models for counting absentee ballots could see:
• counts take place in the voting station at which absentee ballots were issued;
• absentee ballots from all voting locations returned to a central point for counting;
• absentee ballots from all voting locations dispatched to the voting station where each absentee voter appears on the normal voters list;
• absentee ballots from all voting locations returned to a central point in each electoral district for counting.
Issues to Consider
The method adopted would depend on considerations of:
• the organisational structure and management strengths of the electoral management body--where there is a strong local presence and good control systems, return of ballots to a local level for counting is more feasible;
• logistical abilities to return absentee ballots to a single, a limited number or a large number of locations for counting;
• the method adopted for determining absentee voters' eligibility to vote;
• the ability to maintain transparency if absentee ballots are counted at locations distant from the electoral district for which they were cast, which may prevent party or candidate representatives for the relevant election from attending.
Where special absentee voters’ lists are compiled and used at a limited number of locations, counting at absentee voting locations can be more feasible. Where absentee votes are issued without the requirement for prior special registration or certification of the voter's eligibility, checking voter eligibility and counts would not be feasible at voting stations, and would be better undertaken at regional or central locations.
