Contingency plans are an important part of voting operations management plans in all environments and circumstances. The time critical nature of voting operations requires backup plans to enable quick reaction to operational failures or changes in the social or physical environment.
Developed contingency and backup plans are vitally essential where processes or systems are being operated for the first time or in environments undergoing social dislocation. Ideally, contingency plans should identify flexible options adaptable to specific situations; it is generally not possible to foresee every possible contingency.
Operational Focus
Contingency planning needs to address several broad areas where system or other failures, or events over which voting operations administrators have no control, may affect the ability to deliver voting operations services effectively according to the standard plan. These can include:
Operational or management difficulties in particular voting stations: These may be staff failing to report for duty, communications links being severed, or particular materials or equipment not arriving on schedule. These could well be handled at the voting station or in conjunction with local representatives of the electoral management body.
Breakdowns in general electoral management or supply systems: Such contingencies would include general logistics failures, in transport, mail or communication systems, production failures for essential items such as ballots, voters lists and election forms, and inability of computer systems to perform to expectations.
As these affect overall capacities and effectiveness of voting operations, implementation of contingency plans would generally best be taken at a more central election management level, by senior election administrators in a position to take a broad overview of the effects of responses on all aspects of the election process.
Physical or social environment disasters: These would include fire, flood, earthquake, social upheaval, or other disturbances. These may affect voting operations as a whole or be limited in their effect to a single or small number of voting stations. As decisions may need to be made about postponement or adjournment of voting in these circumstances, involvement of senior election management in determining the appropriate response to such occurrences would be necessary.
Decision-Making Responsibilities
Not only should contingency plans present a clear framework for emergency decision-making and the contingency options available, but they should also firmly establish the responsibilities for determining the implementation of such plans and the trigger points at which such decisions must be made.
They must specifically define for which contingencies determination can be made at a local level, those for which decisions must be made by senior executives of the central electoral management body, and those for which other agencies of state must be consulted or involved in such decisions.
Without such a defined framework, there is a risk of local decisions being made on issues of wider significance; such decisions may be inconsistent or fail to address the root causes of the problems.
Contingency Plan Content
Contingency plans should identify:
• the nature of the contingency;
• the operational impacts of the contingency;
• the feasible responses;
• the financial implications of the responses;
• any effects on other processes.
Feasible responses, financial implications and flow-on effects are likely to vary according to the timing of contingency plan implementation decisions; information on these variations should be included in the contingency plans.
Recognition of Process Interdependence
Given the interdependency of election processes, it is important that contingency planning does not treat each voting operations activity as a discrete task. It should follow through the future effects of contingencies in one area, which may not be within voting operations activities, on subsequent activities. For example:
• unavailability of planned voting sites will affect materials distribution, staff deployment, and voter information activities;
• failure of voters lists printing systems may require preparation of lists in a different format, which voting station staff will need to be trained to use;
• Late redistribution of electoral districts will affect the timing of candidate nominations and the identification of voting sites.
Realistic Planning
Contingency plans must be realistic and effective. There should be a mechanism for determining which alternative contingency plans are implemented, taking into account their cost-effectiveness. Whatever the particular task that may need backup or contingency facilities, the basic aim is to have sufficient voting sites, adequately resourced to enable all attending voters to vote. In crisis situations, performance against other objectives is subsidiary.
Systems failure may often be due to excessive complexity for the environment. Creating contingency plans of similar complexity, or entailing considerable expenditure to effect only small increments in performance or service would generally not be cost-effective.
Materials Contingency Plans
Building Reserves
In preparing contingency plans for voting station materials, issues that are significant to consider include:
• the quantities of reserve materials that it is prudent to hold;
• where reserve quantities of materials are to be held, and in this regard, both available storage locations and the ability to transport from the storage location to voting stations are relevant;
• the provision of emergency transport arrangements--e.g., vehicles and drivers and, for remote areas, possibly air transport--for delivery of contingency materials.
Potential Problems
Problems that may occur with materials supply for voting day would generally fall under two broads categories:
A failure in production processes leading to unavailability of materials. This could be either through a breakdown in production (so that no, or insufficient, material has been produced in time), or errors in production have resulted in unusable materials (e.g., ballots with incorrect candidate or party information).
It would be a grave lapse in production quality control processes if unusable materials were produced.
Failures in materials distribution, so that materials have not reached their intended voting station destination at the required time. This could occur through breakdowns in shipping arrangements or errors in addressing supplies for distribution.
Reserve Quantities of Materials
Appropriate reserve quantities of materials will vary for different types of materials and in different environments. Contingency reserves quantities must address a balance between maintaining cost-effectiveness and being able to meet reasonable contingencies for essential materials. Appropriate reserve quantities would generally fall within the range of 5 percent to 10 percent of expected usage.
However, contingency reserve level would prudently be increased if:
• there is little confidence in overall potential voter figures, through lack of recent updates of voter lists, particularly when combined with provision that allow voters to register on voting day, or otherwise claim a vote;
• there is a large variety of types of voting facilities available, or where there are no strict restrictions on the voting station at which a voter may vote, making "micro" predictions of voter turnout more difficult;
• there is automated mail-out of ballots which can be subject to high wastage rates.
As with normal supply of materials, contingency materials can be more efficiently processed if packed in discrete emergency supply kits.
Location of Reserve Supply
Reserve supplies can only be useful if they can be rapidly delivered to replenish materials shortages.
Centralised contingency supply arrangements generally are not conducive to achieving this. For that reason, it is imperative that contingency materials be held at a regional, or sub-regional level. In general, electoral district managers' offices would be the appropriate contingency supply centres for voting stations, and this need should be considered when office premises are selected.
In electoral districts covering large geographic areas, sub-regional secure depots may need to be leased for the supply period.
Emergency Transport for Materials
Contingency materials are of little use if no method of delivering them to voting stations has been arranged.
Particularly for remote areas, lack of early planning of delivery methods can result in substantial costs if, for example, air transport has to be arranged for immediate delivery.
In urban areas potential methods would include:
• providing roving voting station supervisors with suitable vehicles and security so that they can also function as a mobile emergency supply repository;
• maintaining emergency supply vehicles and drivers attached to the electoral district manager's office during the voting period.
In a more rural environment, where voting stations may be at considerable distances apart, practical solutions may come at a higher cost.
Attachment of transport facilities to secure emergency supply depots set up for the voting period in significant population centres may need to be considered, depending on transport distances to all voting stations from the electoral district manager's office.
Staffing Contingency Plans
Basic Issues
To meet staffing crises that may emerge during voting election administrators should ensure that reserves of staff are available. Allowance should be made for allocated staff not reporting for duty or voting stations being swamped by higher than expected numbers of voters.
Organisation and deployment of these contingency staff would generally be more effectively implemented at a local or electoral district level. The shorter the chain of command, the swifter the response is likely to be to staffing emergencies. Holding reserves at a central location may result in more complex logistical requirements to get staff into the field.
Location of Emergency Staff
Crucial decisions involve not just how many emergency staff are to be recruited but also where contingency staff should be located during voting hours. A balance between cost-effectiveness, considering both staffing and logistics costs, and the ability to swiftly cover for staffing emergencies and maintain a good level of voter service has to be sought.
Different environments, in terms of transport links, logistics, geographic areas to be covered, and expected needs for contingency staff, will affect the manner in which emergency staff are deployed. Possible solutions include:
Having a small number of contingency staff report for duty to each voting station. The disadvantages of this method are that it limits flexibility to a certain extent and is relatively costly. The need for additional staff will not generally occur in an equitable manner, but is more likely to be concentrated in a few voting stations. This method may also be wasteful of resources, in catering to a pessimistic scenario at every voting station.
Locating reserve officials at electoral district managers' offices or other local electoral management body offices or depots. While this will give greater flexibility in despatching staff to required voting stations, its effectiveness will depend on transport availability and the geographic area to be covered from each office.
Transport needs to be on hand for such emergencies--not only vehicles but also drivers, to enable the return of vehicles to these offices for further use.
Where roving senior officials are used as field supervisors , assigning trained emergency staff who may be re-assigned to voting stations duties in emergencies as their assistants
This provides:
• some flexibility of response within the roving officials' relevant areas of responsibility,
• uses vehicles already in use for travelling between voting stations, and
• provides the benefit of the roving supervisors' assessment of the situation at voting stations with staffing emergencies.
This method will be limited in use to areas suitable for coverage by roving officials.
Arranging for emergency staff to be on call at home. There could be arguments for this in some areas where officials are appointed from the local communities. There may be some cost advantages if these staff can be paid on-call rates (as opposed to the emergency staff automatically reporting and being paid for duty whether used or not). However, it is only likely to work effectively where:
• public communication systems are reliable, and
• private means of transport is more common (or contingency staff live nearby to the relevant voting locations), and
• election administrators can be sure these staff members will remain on call throughout voting hours.
Emergency Staff Appointments on Voting Day
Plans for staffing emergencies should also consider the fact that contingency reserves of voting station officials may prove to be insufficient. While, hopefully, this will not occur, election administrators and the legal framework for the election should recognise this possibility.
It may be possible to use administrative staff from electoral district managers' or electoral management body offices as voting station officials in emergencies.
These staff members will at least have the advantage of being familiar with some voting processes. However, staff available from this source will generally be very limited in number, and the effect their reassignment to voting stations may have on administrative support during voting must be carefully assessed.
The legal framework for the election could allow voting station managers to appoint additional voting station officials on voting day, in defined circumstances, such as inability to operate the voting station effectively due to failure of officials to report for duty or absence of staff due to fatigue or illness. Where such appointments are made, the voting station manager would need to ensure that these persons sign a contract of employment, as well as the code of conduct and declaration of secrecy or similar documents required of all voting station officials.
It would be preferable if these untrained field-appointed staff were used in less complex tasks, such as exit control or guarding ballot boxes. Election administrators need to ensure that these persons are entered in payment and service records.
Appointments of this nature need to be firmly monitored by the electoral management body to ensure that they are justified in terms of required resources and that the persons being appointed are suitable, in terms of impartiality of actions, to act as officials. The voting station manager should seek advice from the electoral district manager's office before taking this course.
In highly politically charged environments, it may not be possible for all political participants to be satisfied with the impartiality of such field appointments; it may be prudent, therefore, to take the safer, yet more costly, path of a higher level of normal reserve staff recruitment and appointment.
Voter Turnout Contingency Plans
Basic Issues
Contingency planning related to voter turnout issues may need to address situations that include:
• voters turnout overall, or in particular areas, is much less than expected, possibly to the extent that it may threaten the legitimacy of the election result;
• voter turnout overall, or at particular voting sites, is much greater than expected, or is resulting in higher than expected levels of peak period activity.
Methods of addressing these problems will depend on the following considerations:
• the flexibility allowed by the legal framework in revising voting hours and procedures to accommodate the actual circumstances and the ability to adjust staffing or facilities available in voting stations;
• contingency reserves of staff and materials that can be made available
Voter Turnout Less Than Expected
Whether voters decide to vote or not would generally be a decision purely for the voters themselves. Low turnout may well be an indication of the perceptions of voters of the legitimacy of the election process or the quality of the nominated candidates or parties.
However, there are some particular situations where a less than expected voter turnout may need to be addressed by the electoral management body. The following are some examples of potential situations.
Minimum Voter Turnout Requirements in the Law
Some legal frameworks establish minimum voter turnout requirements for the election to be valid. In such situations, it would be generally inappropriate for the electoral management body to take action, other than through increasing the intensity of publicity campaigns during the voting period urging people to vote. Any other actions could be perceived as aligning itself with leading candidates or parties.
Where contingency planning must be implemented immediately--where it appears that turnout may be below any required minimum--is in preparations for a re-run of the election within the time period allowed by legislation.
Transitional Elections
In transitional elections particularly, a low voter turnout may affect public perceptions of the election legitimacy or acceptance of election outcomes. In environments where there is little history of mass voting, this may be as much the result of voter uncertainty or unfamiliarity with voting hours and processes as any dissatisfaction with the election process.
In such circumstances, decisions may need to be made as to whether to extend the hours (or days) of voting, to implement of related contingency information campaigns, or to provide assistance for voters to attend to vote. These are decisions that would be appropriate to make at a central level following legal advice and consultation with the political and any international participants in the election.
Disasters
Natural disasters (e.g., flood, fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, landslide, avalanche, or anaconda) or intimidation may prevent significant numbers of voters from going to vote. Again, response to these would be more appropriately determined at a central level after consultation with all relevant interests.
Occurrences affecting single voting stations may be handled at the local level. Use of joint operations centre structures will assist in coordinating responses.
Voter Turnout Greater Than Expected
Competent election planning should accurately assess the numbers of voters likely to turn out at each voting station and allocate effectively the resources required to service expected voter turnouts. However, there are situations in which contingency plans to cope with additional voter turnout should be developed. These circumstances would include:
• at the time of selection of voting sites, there is doubt about the accuracy of voter population figures;
• election systems have no requirements for voter registration before voting day, or are likely to result in significant numbers of voters registering on voting day itself;
• election systems give voters a wide choice of voting stations to vote (initial action would preferably be to redirect excess voters to other nearby voting locations whose resources are being less fully utilised);
• for cost-efficiency reasons, resourcing of voting stations has been calculated on a specific proportion of registered voters turning out to vote;
• Peak periods of voter activity are more intensive than expected, leading to unacceptable delays for voters voting.
Contingency measures for dealing with higher than expected voter turnouts would generally be directed towards:
The ability to increase the resources available to service voters during the voting period:This would require contingency planning for the delivery of additional materials.
Extending the period available for voting: Where voter turnout has overwhelmed available voting station resources, large numbers of voters may still be outside the voting station, waiting to vote, at the close of voting. Flexibility in legal frameworks for extension of voting under specific circumstances can be useful to deal with such circumstances. Particularly in transitional elections, altered processes may result in estimation of turnouts and voting station resourcing of lesser quality.
Decisions on extension of voting hours would be appropriately made at a central election management level according to any processes allowed by the law and consultation with the political and any international participants in the election
