To ensure that voting operations staff with appropriate skills and other relevant attributes are selected through the recruitment process, defined criteria must be developed against which the abilities and attitudes of potential voting station staff can be measured. While this may seem an overly bureaucratic process defining comprehensive criteria will serve to:
• identify those with relevant experience and abilities suited to particular voting operations tasks;
• eliminate potential staff whose impartiality may be questioned;
• allow elimination of potential staff who are not qualified under the legislation or rules for the election to be engaged for voting operations;
• encourage the recruitment of voting operations staff who are representative of the communities which they are serving;
• provide transparent benchmarks to aid in combating corruption in appointments
Overall, criteria must ensure that only people with the ability to achieve competencies in implementing technical procedures following training are offered employment. This reduces wastage and increases the efficiency of training programs.
Criteria for Employment
The skills and qualities that are required of voting operations staff are those which will enable them to:
• implement voting procedures accurately under pressure;
• provide a courteous and effective service to voters and the public;
• perform all tasks with impartiality and integrity.
In developing systems for assessing the suitability of applicants for voting operations staff positions, there are some general criteria that would be useful to apply.
In designing application documents or interviews for voting operations staff positions and evaluation reports on applicants it would be prudent to address the following general criteria:
Avalability. Applicants must be available to work during the periods they may be assigned voting operations duties, and be available for and willing to undertake the training required.
Personal qualities of integrity, reliability, willingness to accept responsibility, and accountability are necessary in voting operations staff. In some areas, senior voting station staff ,in particular, may need to be persons who command the respect of the community.
Basic skills. Applicants should possess basic skills that would indicate their ability to understand and implement voting procedures accurately following training. Skills that are important include:
• numeracy and arithmetic skills;
• good literacy skills, for senior voting station staff
• the ability to maintain and sort materials accurately;
• the ability to use equipment (including vehicles) relevant to the position;
• the ability to comprehend and implement instructions and procedures.
Practical testing of these skills prior to offering employment (e.g., through exercises such as finding names in a sample voter’s register, numeric and alphabetical sorting, and simple arithmetic tests) can be useful in eliminating unsuitable applicants.
Self-motivation, self-reliance, and stamina. As many voting operations activities must be completed within tight deadlines, applicants should demonstrate they possess the motivation and ability to complete tasks on time and to maintain stamina and accuracy under pressure. The ability to work effectively without constant supervision is also necessary.
Good health and eyesight standards are required.
Effective inter-personal communication skills are an integral part of providing a quality service to voters.
This requires not only oral and written communication skills in the official language of the area, but personal qualities of diplomacy, tact, and composure under pressure in dealing with the public and fellow workers. Fluency in any minority language(s) used in the area is an additional skill that will enhance service.
Prior experience. Applicants would preferably be able to demonstrate some prior experience in an area of work that requires similar skills and personal qualities. as voting operations. This could be previous satisfactory performance of voting operations duties (which should be verified by reference to staff evaluation records from earlier elections) or in other work requiring similar accuracy and customer service skills.
In areas of high long-term unemployment, application of an experience criterion may negatively affect balanced representation. Use of more intensive basic skills testing and training, and reference to educational standards achieved, would be more appropriate.
Other Considerations
There are a number of other standards that will need to be considered in developing recruitment criteria for voting operations staff. These would include:
• whether staff must be independent of any political activity, or whether a balance of political interest is sought
• any circumstances that would disqualify a person from employment
• whether staff should hold particular educational or professional qualifications
• the employment of staff who are representative of the community within which they will be working (see Representativeness).
Criteria Sensitive to Staff Functions
Criteria and levels of achievement against criteria may need to be different for particular voting operations staff positions. For example, additional criteria regarding initiative and management ability would be appropriate for those in charge of voting stations; on the other hand staff temporarily employed to assist with logistics or packaging materials may not need as highly developed inter-personal communications skills as those working in voting stations. Some functions such as marking a voter’s hand with ink would not require good visual ability, whereas this is a requirement for most other voting staff positions.
In developing environments, particularly those where literacy levels may be lower, skills requirements on recruitment may need to be relaxed to ensure community representation in voting station staff, with basic skill enhancement achieved through a more intensive training process.
