While it would be more usual for regular voting to occur on a single day, under some election systems or circumstances, voting may take place on several days.
Multiple day voting would generally fall into one of the following broad formats:
• an initial round of voting to establish the leading candidates with a second round at a later date to determine the election winner
• voting being conducted on different days for electoral districts in different geographic areas;
• provisions for the same voting station to remain open for voting for more than one day in a single round election;
• special forms of voting, such as early voting or mobile voting stations, being held for more than one day.
Multiple Rounds of Voting
Systems requiring two rounds of voting will place additional organisational pressures on voting operations managers:
• They will generally lead to significant rises in voting operations costs through higher use of materials production and staffing for voting and counts, logistics, and security.
• Where "mark choice" ballot papers are used, there will be severe pressures on ballot production and distribution for the second round.
Operational planning will need to carefully and separately consider the requirements for each round of the election and address what efficiencies can be found through ensuring that at each round of voting:
• the same premises/locations are used for voting stations;
• the same staff are used as voting and counting officials;
• forms are, as far as possible, designed for common use at each round.
Material production and distribution for the second round, in general, will need to be carefully planned.
Staggered Elections
The progressive conduct of elections for electoral units in different geographical areas can provide efficiencies where election equipment, logistics capacities, security capabilities, and staff expertise are scarce resources, or where the sheer size of the voting population makes single-day elections difficult to manage.
If coordinated by a national electoral management body, multi-day voting can allow resource sharing and better capabilities. Particularly for such important components as training and security, the ability to stagger requirement in different geographic areas can allow for the best use of scarce professional resources.
Disadvantages of this method mainly relate to control of count and results information and the possibility of tensions or security problems being exacerbated by a lengthy period for voting:
• On the one hand delaying counts until all voting is completed may promote accusations of malpractice. It will also require return of material awaiting the commencement of counts to well-secured central locations.
• On the other hand if votes are counted and results are announced immediately, to promote public confidence, they may affect voting behaviour or promote attempts at manipulation in areas voting later.
Multi-Day Voting at Same Location
Holding of voting over more than one day at the same location presents administrative challenges in delivering services in a secure and cost-effective manner. It can, however, afford the opportunity for electoral administrators to make adjustments to services to compensate for any initial problems with logistics, staff allocation, or application of procedures.
In looking at these challenges, it is useful to distinguish between multi-day voting concerned with:
• special voting facilities, such as early voting
• operation of ordinary voting stations.
This section is concerned with the latter circumstance.
While it is more usual that voting in an election occurs on a single day, there are circumstances where, because of system constraints (such as insufficient voting stations), cultural factors, or to enhance access to voting opportunities, voting occurs at the same location on multiple days.
Whether it is a cost-effective method of organising voting will depend on the cost structures in the particular environment.
However, the direct costs (such as additional payments to voting station staff) and indirect costs (security availability, and any goodwill costs in maintaining public confidence) are likely to outweigh the costs of providing additional voting locations (additional staff training and recruitment, transport, materials, and security). Its benefits depend on the degree to which it enhances voter access and turnout. This may have particular appeal in countries with very large voter populations or without a history of mass voting.
The following sections deal with issues that need to be considered when planning and operating voting stations that will be open for voting for more than one day for a single round of an election.
Security
Multi-day voting places extra demands on security forces to maintain an adequate presence at voting stations.
Particularly in high security risk situations, their ability to meet these demands needs to be carefully considered in determining the practicality of a voting period of more than one day and the voting locations used. Furthermore, security presence overnight will need to be considered if it is likely that voter unable to vote by close of voting on one day stay overnight near the voting station in order to vote the next day.
It is preferable that voting material is not transported from the voting station until voting is completed. Therefore, voting station locations and the material within them must be secured between the closing of the voting on one day and opening of voting on the next.
Only where there is a high degree of trust in state authorities by all political participants should alternatives such as deposit of the material overnight in police or security forces safekeeping be considered.
Voting Station Premises
As material will need to be secured overnight, temporary structures or open-air facilities may not be suitable.
Materials and Equipment Management
All materials and equipment should still be delivered to the voting station prior to the commencement of voting, unless there are local, specific reasons (such as transport capacity or security) that make staggered delivery cost-effective. For some materials and equipment, the levels supplied will depend on the number of days over which voting occurs.
Particularly where combined with larger voting station traffic, planning for multi-day voting should allow for increased levels of reserve equipment, such as ballot boxes and voting compartments, in case of damage during the voting period.
Ensuring Transparency
It is important that representatives of the political participants are able to verify the integrity of election material throughout the voting period.
In circumstances of extreme distrust, this may require the physical presence of political party or candidate representatives at all times from the commencement to the close of voting, even when the voting station is closed overnight. This should be carefully co-ordinated to avoid conflict.
More practical solutions emphasise the manner in which ballots and other voting material are stored during the voting period. Durable ballot boxes would preferably be used, rather than cheaper cardboard or other non-durable material.
At the close of each day's voting, and the commencement of the next, the condition and sealing of ballot boxes containing completed votes cast should be recorded by senior voting staff and witnessed by party or candidate representatives present.
Other material whose integrity is essential for the successful outcome of the election should also preferably be stored overnight in sealed ballot boxes, and if not, in other secure storage. This would include:
• voters lists,
• unused ballots, and
• completed forms for absentee voting, assisted voting, challenges to voters, and voting eligibility for voters not on the voters list,
• seals, and fraud control equipment such as light sensitive ink.
The sealing of these at close of voting each day and their unsealing at commencement the next day should be recorded by senior voting staff and witnessed by party and candidate representatives present.
Capacity Planning
Multi-day voting makes capacity planning more difficult, particularly if it is occurring for the first time in a country or in a transitional election. It is not simply a matter of dividing expected voters by the number of days of voting and thus establishing expected daily voting station traffic.
Analysis of the potential voter population's daily work patterns, the impact of voter information campaigns on voters' understanding of when they may vote, transportation schedules, and past time patterns of voter turnout are useful in determining likely attendance on each day.
In the absence of any historical patterns, basic voting station location and resourcing capacities should consider meeting a potential turnout of between two-thirds and three-quarters of the total potential voters on a single day.
But voter turnout may not be logical; societal traits or the specific election environment may determine the number of voters from the start of the first day of voting compared to the numbers of final day voters. Ensuring the maintenance of voter service entails planning a reserve capability to increase traffic capacity (by using additional staff) on the final day.
There are administrative means of staggering the turnout over multiple voting days. Potential voters may be administratively split and assigned particular days to vote. This may be effective if done on a geographic basis, but is more likely to cause voter confusion if done on other bases, such as name or employment type. Sensible administrative measures would include electoral administrators' liaison with parties and communities to attempt to schedule any mass transport to voting stations in a staggered fashion over the period of voting.
Hygiene and comfort
Multiple day use of a voting station means that daily cleaning arrangements for the voting station and other facilities, such as portable toilets and replenishment of water supplies, need to be considered.
In less developed countries particularly, voters may have had a long and arduous journey to the voting station, and may wish to stay overnight if unable to vote by the time the station closes on the day of their arrival. If facilities are not available for this, there is the potential for disruption, and possibly violence. Choice of voting station locations and security planning should take this into account.
Staffing Allocations
Working in a voting station involves long hours and is a potentially exhausting experience. The more days of voting, the greater is the need for trained reserve staff to cover illness and absenteeism, and as a precaution for a higher than expected turnout on a single day.
It is sensible to set basic staff to voter ratios higher than for single-day voting and to allow for more frequent rest breaks for staff, particularly when the same voting station staff are conducting the counting. This will offset any apparent staffing efficiency of using fewer, larger capacity voting stations for multiple voting days.
Voter Information
There are some additional voter information messages to be conveyed in a multi-day voting situation (for general voter information issues. In addition to advising of locations and hours of voting, voter information messages in the days before voting day can help in distributing the turnout over the available days.
Apart from use of media, such assistance can be given by staggering the scheduling of any local or street-based "reminders to vote" during the voting period. During the initial voting day, turnout statistics need to be monitored to determine if there is an immediate need for additional voter information placements, either generally or in specific areas. The potential need for these is also a consideration in management of the voter information budget.
Unplanned Multi-Day Voting
There are also significant administrative differences depending on whether the multi-day voting schedule has been planned as part of the election process, or is a response to deficiencies encountered in general or in particular locations on voting day. Limited, defined allowance for such responses is a prudent component of the election legal framework.
Relevant deficiencies could include:
• late or non-delivery of essential material and equipment;
• adjournment of voting due to threat, violence, or natural disaster;
• an inability to process during voting hours the voters who have turned out to vote (an indication of major planning deficiencies);
• a judgment that voter turnout on the specified voting day is insufficient to give credibility to the election.
In these cases the effectiveness of contingency planning is critical to the success of the extended voting period.
Extension of voting to a further day, or days, is not a decision to be taken lightly, not only for its affect on resourcing, but as it may delay finalisation of vote counts beyond the planned and publicised dates.
Responsibilities for making such decisions are better assigned to the senior executive of the electoral management body and defined in the elections legal framework. In some environments, laws requiring judicial and/or executive government endorsement may be appropriate.
Maintaining public confidence in such circumstances will require additional measures such as:
• ensuring that any partial count results are not publicised before the completion of all relevant voting;
• ensuring that ballot material is handled securely and transparently throughout the extended period;
• mobilising additional resources to allow the publicised count timetable to be followed as closely as possible.
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