The purpose of voting compartments, or voting booths, is to allow voters to mark or select their choices of candidate or party in secret. It does not require expensive (in both production and storage terms) durable equipment.
Where "mark choice" ballots are used, and no tables are available in the voting station, it will need to be of solid free-standing or interlocked construction and contain a strong writing tray.
Design
Common alternatives in styles of voting compartments include:
Table-top models: need be little more than a simple double or single fold piece of corrugated cardboard, which can be taped to a table, or of durable wood, plastic, or metal.
These should be of sufficient height to prevent voters in adjoining compartments being able to view each other's ballots. Where table-top or free-standing compartments are used, the writing area within the compartment should preferably be wide and deep enough to allow the ballot paper to be placed on it without having to be folded and the height of the compartment above the writing surface level sufficient to prevent voters in adjoining compartments from viewing each other's ballot paper.
Free-standing voting compartments, of disposable corrugated cardboard or durable wood, metal, or plastic. Durable equipment of this nature is bulky and expensive to store, maintain in good repair, and transport.
If durable construction, storage and transport costs can be reduced if voting compartments can be kept in permanent, secure storage at the voting site, particularly for voting stations in rural areas. This will presume the availability of the same voting sites for successive elections. Where free-standing compartments are normally used, at least one table-top version should be issued to each voting station for the use of disabled voters.
Drop cloths of dark or opaque fabric, with the addition of some nails, can be cost-effectively used to curtain off areas in which a table can be placed. In the same, but more design-conscious, vein, commercially produced compartments, featuring cloth hanging from a supporting frame, are also available, at a cost.
Fundamental to the choice of the voting compartment is that voting remains secret. Even split cardboard boxes, taped to a tabletop, may be suitable in an emergency.
Where voters mark their choice of party or candidate on the ballot paper, voting compartments should contain some means of attaching a pen or pencil to the compartment.
Where normal tables with a makeshift screen are used, this could be as simple as attaching the writing implements with tape or string. Specially designed voting compartments with a self contained writing surface would preferably have a drilled hole through which the writing implement can be attached.
Disposable Cardboard Compartments
Disposable free-standing compartments need to be rigid and solid when assembled. Some voters are likely to place young children, briefcases, or the morning's shopping on the writing surface while completing their vote. Most fully recycled corrugated board does not have sufficient strength.
Best results generally come from using corrugated board made from a mix of recycled and virgin pulp. Effective construction normally means an interlocking design in which each screen is supported by the one on either side.
Using cardboard voting compartments will allow printing of voting instructions directly onto the side of the compartment directly facing the voter rather than having to print and affix separate instruction posters.
Quantities Required
Quantities of voting compartments supplied to each voting station depend on:
• the number of voters to be serviced;
• the times the voting station is open;
• the average time estimated for each voter to vote;
• the number of ballot papers to complete;
• the complexity of the voting procedure. For example exhaustively marked full preferential ballot papers take longer to complete than those on which a single mark is placed.
Sufficient voting compartments need to be provided to each voting station to allow a smooth flow of voters through the voting station. Insufficient voting compartments cause delays in voting. Ballot papers should only be issued to voters when there is a vacant voting compartment. Conversely, if ballot papers continue to be issued when all voting compartments are occupied, voting secrecy is likely to be compromised as voters may then complete their ballot papers in the open.
Supply quantities of voting compartments in various jurisdictions are generally in the range of one compartment for every one to two hundred voters, depending on the factors listed above.
In France, using an enveloped voting system where the voter chooses which party or candidate ballot to place in the voting envelope, the ratio is one screen to two hundred voters.
For Australian national elections, where each voter has to complete two ballot papers, one a fully marked preferential vote and the other a ballot which can be marked with a single party reference or an exhaustive preferential numbering of candidates, the ratio is one compartment to every 120 voters.
Larger quantities of compartments need to be allocated to specific voting stations where voters may take longer than average to complete their vote. These groups include:
• aged voters;
• voters unfamiliar with voting procedures;
• voters of lower literacy
• voters from minority language groups.
