The determination of how many voting sites are needed and their locations is one of the basic requirements for providing an appropriate level of service to voters and organising the resources needed to conduct voting.
Legal Frameworks
Legal frameworks for the election would normally clearly specify:
• the relationship of voting sites to electoral districts and the electoral or geographic areas that voting sites may service;
• the minimum (and any maximum) number of voting sites to be provided in each electoral district;
• a method for officially designating or appointing voting sites, as well as de-commissioning, voting sites;
• responsibilities for determining voting sites, and particularly any role played by governments, elected representatives, and other political participants in the determination of voting site locations;
• methods of identifying voting sites by a unique name or number;
• where special voting facilities may be made available, any specific requirements or restrictions on appointing voting sites for these purposes.
In some systems, maximum and/or minimum voter numbers for a voting site are also determined in the legal framework. There may be some advantages in this, particularly in systems where election administrations may be less experienced, or where, for other reasons, there is a need for a legislative guarantee of service to voters. However, it can lead to inflexibility and restriction of opportunities for efficiency of service to voters.
Such parameters may be better left to electoral management body policy. However determined, any restrictions on the numbers of voters that a voting site may service should not be made without prior research on their practicality and cost-effectiveness.
Given the essential nature of voting site data for election planning, and for voter information purposes, the legal and policy framework for determination of voting sites must be finalised as early as possible, and certainly before the election period commences. Adjusting the parameters, particularly regarding maximum voter numbers, during the election period can throw election planning into chaos.
Formal Approval and Designation of Voting Locations
To ensure accountability in the process of designating voting sites, and to minimise "phantom" or unauthorised voting sites controlled by political participants, all voting sites should be authorised by an official published mandate required by law. This should clearly state the name and preferably the location of the voting site
If to be used outside the normal hours of voting day (e.g., as a mobile voting or early voting location), the hours of operation and the voting facility provided should also be specified. Where continuous election management systems are in operation, such formal notice need only be given when changes to voting station status occur
Determining the Need for Locations of Voting Sites
Need for voting sites, and the areas in which they must be located, will be determined by:
• any legislative or administrative policy requirements on the number of voters to be serviced by a voting station;
• the number of voters to be serviced and their locations;
• providing accessibility to all voters to the voting process, in a cost-effective manner;
Common legislative or policy approaches would include:
• specifying the maximum number of voters that may be serviced by a voting station, and drawing geographic boundaries for voting sub-divisions which encompass no more than this maximum number of voters, and of such size that will enable effective and accessible service to voters;
• alternatively, the electoral district could be split into geographic voting subdivisions of roughly equal size, with boundaries determined by natural features, transportation links,etc
It would be usual to require that a voting site be located in each voting subdivision and that, unless eligible for some special voting facility such as absentee voting, voters are assigned to vote at the specific voting site within their voting subdivision. Effectiveness may be served by allowing some flexibility in such systems, to allow a single voting site to accommodate, in separate areas or voting streams, voters from other specified voting subdivisions.
This can provide efficiencies (particularly for some local government elections or other circumstances where voter populations of voting subdivisions is small). Care must be taken not to adversely affect voter accessibility. Adopting methods based on voting subdivisions of relatively equal voting populations will make election planning easier.
However, in areas of less dense population, more flexible size criteria may be required to preserve voter accessibility.
Some legal frameworks, however, allow voters a choice of attending any voting site within a larger geographic area--often the electoral district for which a representative is being chosen at the election.
This may have advantages in flexibility and accessibility for voters, but it provides some difficulties in providing correct resource allocations at each voting site and requires more complex controls for preventing multiple voting and establishing eligibility of voters.
Planning Basis
Within each electoral district and voting subdivision analysis of potential voter numbers, accessible locations with regard to transport links and geography of the area, and characteristics of electors in specific areas forms the basis for effective planning of voting site locations.
(For issues to be considered when determining optimal locations for voting sites, see Demographic Analysis and Locations of Voting Sites.)
Voting Site Arrangements
Once the general area in which a voting site is required has been determined, arrangements must be made for identifying suitable premises or other areas to be used for voting, and, subsequently, the detailed allocation of voting operations resources on the basis of expected voters, feasible logistics, and necessary security.
(For an overview of voting site arrangements, see Voting Site Arrangements, and for security issues, Voting Site Security.)
Premises to be used for voting should be assessed as to their suitability to provide reasonable facilities for the numbers of voters expected.
Effective voter service will be enhanced if voting station managers are provided with an approved layout for their voting stations. These should be based on standard layouts that have been devised to maximise voter service and election integrity, adapted if necessary for the physical shape or floor plan of particular voting locations.
Needs assessments for voting sites should be undertaken on the basis of the premises or other locations to be used, the facilities required to be provided,the layout criteria and the numbers of voters expected.
A monitoring system will be required to ensure that all voting sites are fully prepared for the opening of voting at the correct time.
Image:
Long Lines on Election Day by Vincent J. Brown is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License.
Image:
Afternoon of a Lesser Election by unprose is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivatives 2.0 Generic License.
