This question is posted by ACE on behalf of a Member of the State Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).

We are discussing making the provision of indelible pens in election booths compulsory (so far ordinary pencils are often provided).  

Currently international practice is mixed regarding the use of pens v. pencils: there are high quality, non-erasable pens available on the election supply market. However, replacing pencils with pens is often seen as a largely symbolic measure for reducing fraud. The reason being, ill-intentioned polling station officers can easily invalidate a ballot marked with a pen by simply using the stroke of a pen or pencil. Erasing voters' pencil marks on ballots, on the other hand, may be easier to detect (due to traces being left) and therefore pencil-use might discourage this kind of fraud. 

Considering this context, what recommendations exist on the provision of writing materials at polling stations ?  In specific, we are looking for:

1. Members' recommendations or international standards/ best practices on the quality or kind of writing materials (e.g. pens v. pencils) at polling stations.
2. Any country-specific examples of legislation governing the provision of these materials.

Summary of Responses

Practitioners’ Network members shared a range of legislation, best practices and insights on writing materials used in their countries’ polling stations.

Several members suggested polling stations use pens in the following countries: Georgia, Rwanda, Colombia, Ecuador, and Cameroon.

A few members expressed hesitation about pencil use at polling stations because of the ease of erasing pencil marks.  However, one member shared his view that election officers seldom invalidate ballots through erasing pencil marks in elections with a certain degree of oversight in the counting process by groups like party/candidate representatives, the public, local and international observers. Moreover, the same member agreed that replacing pencils with pens is largely a symbolic measure to reduce fraud, while expressing that election commissions must focus on eliminating fraud over the entire electoral cycle, and not just the counting process.  

Overall, member responses suggest that while pens are considered more reliable than pencils in polling booths, the type of writing materials used is less relevant in contexts lacking deeper institutional measures to curb electoral fraud, such as detection and enforcement mechanisms.

Contributing Members

• Víctor Hugo Ajila
• Sadou Lady Bawa
• Enrique López Sanavia
• Kunzang Wangdi
• Francisco Barrera
• George Amponsah-Gyima
• Denise Nzisabira
• Liberata Irambona
• Natia Kashakashvili

ELECTION CODE OF GEORGIA

Article 58. Arrangement of a polling place

...

4. At the polling place: 

a) polling booths shall be installed for a secret ballot. One side of the booth shall be open up to the half of its height, and the upper half shall be covered with a curtain. Not less than one booth shall be provided for every 500 voters. One pen shall be available in every polling booth; ...

d) lists of voters, party lists, lists of candidates, instruction on marking a ballot paper including the extract from the Code defining cases of invalidation of ballot paper, and public display protocol(s)of polling results have to be posted in a visible place. 

5. If any of the election subjects already included in the ballot paper no longer participates in the elections, a notice about the above change shall be posted on a visible place at the polling station, as well as in the booth for a secret ballot. 

Election Instructions of Rwanda

Article 88: Materials needed in the polling room

Immediately after the polling officers have received electoral materials, they must verify if materials needed in every room are there and enough.

Those materials include:

1.      The ballot box and its ropes;

2.      All the ink used in the polling room;

3.      Ink pad;

4.      The stamp “yatoye”;

5.      Ballot papers not less than the number of people appearing on the voters' register;

6.      Tally sheets;

7.      The voters’ register;

8.      The lamp that can be used when necessary;

9.      Necessary envelopes;

10.  Provided appendixes that must be filled.

11.  A marker;

12.  A counting machine;

13.  Scissors;

14.  “Scotch”;

15.  Pens;

       16. Stapler and staples

Those are the materials we use during elections. But depending on the budget and on what you want that can be helpful to your voters, you can add even more.

An ordinary pen is sufficient in every ballot booth but using a pencil may be a source of fraud because a pencil is easily erased and it is not given for everybody to see if the ballot has been falsified. So it's better to use an ordinary pen and it's cheaper than an indelibile pen.

In some countries, voters are required to use any of the following media to mark their ballots:  a) Pencils b) Ball pens c) markers (indelible or board) d) Ink pad.  During elections one or two of these are placed in the polling booth for the purpose of marking the ballots. All these media have their own advantages and disadvantages, however, with the vigilance of trained representatives of parties/candidates, the general public, and in some instance local and international observers during the counting process which is now done immediately after the close of the polls, it is not common for election officers to in validate the ballots either by cancellation or erasing the pencil marks on cast ballots.

Replacing pencils with pens is often seen as a largely symbolic measure for reducing fraud as rightly indicated. For elections to be accepted as being free, fair and credible means as much as possible all fraudulent means are eliminated from the entire process.

If replacing pencils with indelible pens will reduce election fraud and increase credibility sanctity of the whole process, we should have the courage to change this, in this case voter and public education must be stepped up for the entire population to understand why the change and if they do, they will provide more protection for the process.

It is not also easy to detect pencil marks when they are erased as being suggested, especially in rural Africa where most polling stations do not have enough bright light for counting and tabulation.

En Colombia SA, se utiliza un esfero de tinta, (en la mayoria de sur america), que está descrito y se envia en un kit electoral, se han hecho pruebas con marcadores, pero esto permite que la marcacion pase a otro candidato o campo, o que no marque, haciendo que anulen el voto, con lapiz es facil de borrar, con una pluma de tinta es facil que la tinta traspase el papel del voto, es dificil el funcionamiento e incluso la carga de la tinta en el util.

Si lo que se requiere es que se haga dificil el borrado de la marca del voto, se deben adquirir eferos con tintas especiales, que se observen con luz tambien especial, facilitanto que se detecten la modificaciones o borrados o adulteraciones del voto, esto funcionaria para demandas o reclamaciones, es hacer un escrutinio con la verificacion de la totalidad de los votos es tedioso y complicado.

En cuanto a la falsificacion del voto por el cambio de marcas, se soluciona con el tema de la tinta, pero recuerde que no solo cambian la marca, tambien cambian el voto, o en ultimo cambian las cuentas en el escrutinio o la interpretacion de la marca o deseo del elector.

Would you be interested to look at the following:

httpwww.election-bhutan.org.btwp-contentuploads201304HandbookforPollingOfficer.pdf

Si la pretensión toral en una elección popular, es la evitar y contrarrestar los fraudes electorales, entonces, la recomendación será la de ampliar el radio de acción sobre cultura política y educación cívica. Entre mayor madurez política exista en el ciudadano, mayor es su participación en los comicios que aniquilan el fenómeno de las malas intenciones electorales, sobre todo cuando media la   observación sistemática de todos los involucrados. Estamos ciertos que para acceder a las mejores prácticas internacionales., se impone dicha cultura y dicha vigilancia.  Luego, cualquier material de escritura (lápiz, pluma, crayón, marcador, color, etc.)  resulta válido y  factible de utilizar en las elecciones, porque lo que debe interesar finalmente es evitar el incremento en el costo del voto. 

Le remplacement du crayon par le stylo a bille est une mesure visant a crédibiliser davantage le scrutin. Au Cameroun nous n'utilisons pas de crayon dans les bureaux de vote. Dans la liste de matériels de fonctionnement d'un bureau de vote nous avons un stylo a bille bleu ,un stylo a bille rouge ainsi qu'une gomme. Le dépouillement des urnes intervenant directement après l'annonce de la clôture du scrutin a 18 heures(au cas ou il n'y aurait pas d’électeurs dans les rangs devant le bureau de vote) et ceci en présence de tout électeur qui le désire ainsi que des membres de la commission locale de vote ( 1 président, 1 représentant de l'administration, 1 représentant de chaque parti politique ou candidat selon le type de scrutin, 04 scrutateurs) les risques de fraude sont minimisées, sauf cas de complicité de tout le monde. La transparence ainsi assurée permet de crédibiliser les résultats sortis des unes.

Un aspecto importante a considerar es la regulación. Se sugiere que sea un reglamento o un instructivo, algo muy dinámico de manera que el organismo electoral tenga un amplio margen de acción. No es recomendable que conste en la ley electoral.

En cuanto al material en si mismo, depende de la cultura cívica y democrática. Se debe considerar el constexto de la población donde se va a aplicar. Por ejemplo en Ecuador se usan esferos de tinta y marcadores inclusive.

Se recomienda también que durante la etapa preelectoral se realice una comparación entre los distintos tipos de materiales que se ofertan en el mercado, para escoger la mejor opción, y que se informe ampliamente a los electores para que se familiaricen con la herramienta.

Saludos cordiales

Víctor Hugo Ajila