Training session content for voting operations staff is logically based on the procedures manual(s) to be used by voting operations officials as the guidelines for their duties.
Training content should aim to develop all the competencies required by voting operations officials to undertake their tasks.
Scope of Content
In some environments, training session content may not be limited to voting procedures only. There may be a need to train staff in basic systems used to support voting stations or other election processes, for example:
• how to assemble portable voting station equipment;
• use of telephone (or fax equipment if used);
• use of other communications systems such as personal radios;
• use of special calculators;
• some basic information on computer operation where computers are used for voting.
These issues can be as important as the voting procedures themselves for ensuring staff effectiveness.
Training sessions are also the most effective forum for reinforcing organisational values, staff welfare, and assistance matters as well as answering queries. Relevant issues would include:
• the integrity, impartiality, and professionalism expected of all staff;
• dealing with voters and the public in a polite and effective manner;
• wage payment amounts, method and timing;
• assigned duty stations;
• arrangements for transportation to and from their duty station;
• accommodation and meal provisions;
• any arrangements for reimbursement of expenses and allowable expense items.
Particular attention during training should be given to identified areas of difficulty. These may have been identified from:
• past experience;
• complexity of the procedural requirements;
• importance to the integrity of the voting process;
• introduction of new procedures that require retraining of staff.
Common areas requiring particular emphasis include:
• control and reconciliations of voting materials;
• voter identification and marking of voter lists or other voter attendance records;
• unregistered persons wanting to vote;
• procedures for challenged voters or votes;
• secure and correct parceling of materials;
• correct determination of valid ballots and (where relevant) voter preference marks.
Other subjects may need greater attention according to the cultural history of the particular environment; these could be issues such as voting secrecy, voter service, and rights of party/candidate representatives and independent observers.
Staff Categorisation for Training
It may be more effective to categorise staff for training purposes, depending on how recruitment strategies (see Recruitment) and polling staff categories have been defined. This needs to be taken into account in training planning
For example, staff with voting station management roles will require additional training content to those guarding ballot boxes. Where staff are recruited for specific duties or mixtures of duties in a voting station--for example, voting materials issuing, queue control, voter information--there can be learning efficiencies in training each staff category with a specific program content appropriate to their defined tasks.
These may be greater when recruited staff have little experience or a low basic skill base. A drawback to this is that limiting training to specific tasks may limit staffing management flexibility within voting stations and reduce team cohesion.
Modular Training Content
Developing a modular training program (see Training Delivery Style and Training Reference Materials) can be an effective base for training staff for different roles.
Using this approach, the basic staff training session can be augmented by modules appropriate to staff requiring broader or higher skill levels. Length of training sessions can be tailored according to what specific categories of staff may need to know.
General Voting Operations Officials Training Content
The key content issues to be covered during voting operations staff training relate to the:
• legal and procedural bases of voting operations staff tasks;
• behaviour expected of staff;
• materials and equipment to be used;
• conduct of voting;
• provision of quality service to voters;
• rights and responsibilities of election participants;
• administrative arrangements for staff;
• security, integrity, communications and safety issues.
Structuring training content in a similar way to that which information is organised in staff manuals will aid understanding. Content may be structured on a simple "time of action" basis, by breaking the sessions down into sections dealing with:
• administration and staff welfare issues;
• activity before commencement of voting;
• conducting the voting;
• close of voting and collection of materials;
• the ballot count (where relevant).
Content may be more effectively organised in a modular format (see Training Delivery Style). Modules deal with discrete, though interrelated, skills or information sets. A modular structure for a training session for voting station officials could contain modules on:
• registration of participants;
• session introduction/summary of objectives;
• staff entitlements, deployment, and welfare;
• the election environment/purpose;
• code of conduct, integrity, and impartiality, voter service issues;
• function and use of, and accountabilities for, voting materials and equipment;
• voting station layout and functional areas;
• duties prior to opening of the voting station;
• role of party/candidate representatives and independent observers during voting;
• crowd control;
• voter information;
• voter identity and eligibility checks;
• issuing voting material;
• maintaining voting secrecy;
• assistance to voters;
• special voting facilities (if appropriate);
• maintenance of the voting area;
• problems that could arise during voting;
• personal safety (including responses to emergencies) and materials security;
• close of voting;
• packaging and security of materials;
• session review.
These modules may vary in amount of content, from five to ten minutes of presentation time to up to an hour. Where not all staff have the same duties, the training on the specialist tasks--such as crowd control, voter information, issuing and accepting voting material, special voting facilities--could be presented only to those staff with these specialist duties.
Specific procedural environments will have additional modular requirements required by voting procedures, for issues such as voting day registration and use of voting computers.
Senior Voting Station Staff
Training content for staff with management roles in voting stations, e.g., voting station managers and their assistants or deputies and roving officials or supervisors, needs to be augmented to cover their additional specific duties and management roles. In a modular format, the modules noted above for general staff would be augmented by additional modules which could cover:
• setting up the voting station and ensuring receipt of all materials;
• staff management, supervision, and welfare;
• materials, equipment, and premises management;
• conflict resolution methods;
• communications strategies;
• security management, i.e., the roles of security forces and managing emergency procedures;
• completion of voting station records and reports;
• a "Training the trainer" session if they have responsibility for training their staff.
Additional training in these management issues will enhance the efficient operations of voting stations.
Officials for Special Voting Facilities
Where special voting facilities are being used staff involved will have specific training needs requiring additional or different content. Specific additional content will vary according to the election system parameters, but may need to include:
For early, absentee, and foreign voting location staff:
• procedures for issue of voting material, whether through attendance of the voter, by mail, or by electronic means;
• controls to ensure voting material is issued for the correct electoral district;
• completion, verification, and checking against voter registration records of information supplied by voters supporting the validity of their vote;
• materials packaging and despatch to correct electoral district or administrative centre;
• voting material reconciliations.
For mobile voting station staff:
• liaison with mobile voting location communities or institutional managers;
• completion of records for multi-location and multi-day voting;
• logistics support;
• additional equipment and materials security measures.
Where procedures and content of training for officials staffing special voting facilities are significantly different from those for other voting station staff, totally separate training sessions will be more effective.
Training for Ballot Counting Officials
Training content for ballot counting officials will be governed by whether additional staff are engaged to conduct the count at regional or central count centres, or whether counting, either in the voting station or in a separate count centre, is conducted by the same staff used in the voting station. Where voting station officials are involved in the counting of ballots, additional training modules will be required on issues such as:
• preparation of materials and set up of count area;
• function and use of count materials and equipment;
• rights and responsibilities of party and candidate representatives and independent observers at counts;
• counting and sorting procedures;
• assessing the validity of ballots, determining voter preference marks (where used), and treatment of challenges;
• problems that could arise during the count;
• closing the count and calculation of results;
• packaging of materials at close of count.
Where ballot counting staff are separately recruited and trained, some additional behavioural and administrative topics will need to be covered in addition to the specific count procedures content, including:
• registration and administration matters for the session;
• the election environment;
• staff entitlements and logistics arrangements;
• code of conduct and impartiality and integrity issues;
• personal and materials security.
Additional content of count managers training should also cover similar management matters to that of voting station managers, e.g., staff and materials management, transmission of results, security management, adjudication of challenges, completion of count records, and return of count material to the electoral management body.
Some staffing structures allow additional logistics staff to be employed at the count, to assist, under the supervision of count officials, in voting station clean-up or organising furniture during preparation for the count, moving ballot boxes, and packaging and securing of materials. A short briefing session by the count manager prior to commencement of the count will generally be sufficient training for such staff.
Temporary Administration Assistance Staff
It is equally important that any temporary staff engaged in administrative positions for voting operations are trained to undertake their duties.
Where such temporary staff have legal and management responsibilities with regard to the election--for example, in electoral district management--it is vital that they are fully trained so they can accurately guide the operations of polling staff within their area and confidently accept accountability for voting operations activities under their control.
