Detailed voting operations work plans can be too unwieldy for everyday use by all staff. Calendars and time lines, as a summary of the key dates and issues in the work plans, will provide the most effective task reminder and monitoring format. Use of checklists provides an intermediate step between these two other necessary planning and monitoring documents.
Checklist Content
Checklists can usefully be developed on a number of levels, tailored to:
• the responsibilities of individual staff members;
• activities at particular locations;
• project-based and overall monitoring of activity.
A hierarchical format provides an effective management tool. A hierarchical format is where checklists for completion of all steps in single activities or functions in each location provide information to overall monitoring checklists. This tracksactivity completion against election time line requirements.
Such checklists can be computerized and automatically integrated to provide efficiencies in data transfer Completion of steps in a particular task in a particular location automatically updates progress against overall time line checklists.
Checklist Design
When designing a checklist consider the following:
• clearly keep in mind the purpose for which the checklist is used ;
• better designs will include space and directions for the responsible staff member to mark completion of each individual stage on the checklist and sign off the completed activity;
• individual activity or function checklists used as action prompts need to include all key actions, in logical time sequence, for the correct completion of a task;
• tailor the level of detail included on the checklists to the experience and the immediacy of supervision;
• voting station staff checklists may need to be more detailed in their breakdown of actions than those for experienced voting operations administrators;
• keep checklists short and simple, restricted to a single function or activity per checklist to promote their use;
• checklists for monitoring activity completion need not necessarily note all steps in each task, or they may become unwieldy;
Journals and Diaries
Electoral district managers and other voting operations administrators are well advised to keep a journal throughout the election period;
• A journal may be in the form of a basic calendar-style checklist showing the significant milestones and the dates on which they are scheduled to be and actually were achieved (see Canada Diary of Duties of Returning Officer)
• A journal can be of greater future use if in the form of a combined checklist and diary, any significant occurrences--particularly those which have created to disputes or challenges, or which have implications for the planning of future elections--are formally noted see Australia Returning Officer's Election Journal (1996)
• A journal could also be in straight diary format, with all actions taken and occurrences recorded each day and compared against project planning deadlines see New Zealand Returning Officer's Diary (1996). A plain diary format would be better combined with the use of other specific checklists for task activities.
