Party or candidate representatives should be given the opportunity to observe the conduct of any mobile voting facilities that are used for home visits to voters, voting in hospitals or other institutions, such as prisons, or in remote areas. Dates, locations, and hours of mobile voting must be announced by the electoral management body to parties and candidates in advance to allow them this opportunity.
For mobile voting in remote areas, reachable only by air charter transport, it may be useful for promotion of the integrity of the election for the electoral management body to allow party or candidate representatives to travel with the mobile voting station, where practicable. In such situations the issue of some contribution by representatives towards the costs of their transport may need to be addressed.
Whatever arrangements are made in terms of assisting representatives must be equitable towards all parties or candidates contesting the relevant election.
Rights and responsibilities of party and candidate representatives in observing mobile voting stations are those applicable to static voting facilities (see Rights and Conduct within Voting Stations and Role of Party/Candidate Representatives).
Mobile voting officials must ensure, particularly where mobile voting stations are servicing elderly or frail voters, that the behaviour of party and candidate representatives is not such that may, even unintentionally, intimidate voters.
Party or candidate representatives observing mobile voting stations operating in voters' homes or in hospitals or other care institutions must act with common sense and courtesy; where it is obvious that their presence may discomfort a voter, they should withdraw.
Particularly where mobile voting stations are visiting voters' homes, sensitivity is required; large numbers of representatives entering a voter's home could be regarded as invading the voter's privacy.
Relaxation of Campaigning Restrictions
In more complex voting systems, particularly those that require the electors to mark multiple preferences on the ballot, there may be some advantages in the legal framework allowing distribution, either by party/candidate representatives present or the mobile voting station officials, of party voting guides on request by voters.
In some situations, such as where voters are bedridden in medical institutions or homes, in prisons, or in remote areas, the voters may otherwise not have access to such information. It would be the responsibility of the party or candidate, not the electoral management body, to ensure such information was available for use.
