The Question

This question was posted on behalf of Nancy Molina Caceres, EMB member from Ecuador. The question was originally posted in Spanish (please see below).

What strategies could be applied to deal with absenteeism among polling staff on election day?

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Cuáles pueden ser las estrategias que se puede aplicar para mejorar el ausentismo de miembros de juntas receptoras del voto en el dìa de las elecciones?

Summary of responses
Several strategies for dealing with absenteeism among polling staff recur throughout the replies from the practitioners. The importance of having a contingency plan for absenteeism is stressed, in particular by having additional reserve staff on stand-by (in the region of 10-15% of the required number). Another recommendation is to assemble all polling staff on the eve of the election for a final briefing and roll call. While not a guarantee of staff attendance the following day, it does give a good and often reliable indication.

Rewarding polling staff for their time can serve as an effective incentive for attendance. This could, for example, take the form of providing a meal at the end of the day or financial remuneration. Adequate training, including civic education that instils the importance and value of polling staff, also incentivises people to be present.

An effective recruitment procedure should weed out those individuals who seem unreliable and uncommitted. Another measure is to have polling staff sign some sort of written agreement, pledging their commitment. Sanctions should, where applicable and appropriate, be applied as a deterrent against absenteeism.

Electoral Management Bodies are recommended to compile a database of reliable poll workers that can be drawn upon in future elections, thus minimising the likelihood of absenteeism. 

One practitioner advises polling staff who need to travel to do so ahead of election day, especially if there are known transportation challenges. 

Examples of related ACE Articles and Resources
Encyclopaedia:
• Contingency staff 
• Recruitment and Training of Voting Station Staff 
• Recruitment Standards 
• The Nature of Appointment Contracts 
• Training of Voting Operations Staff 

External Resources
• Innovations for Successful Societies: Toward a Second Independence: Repairing Nigeria's Electoral Commission, 2010-2011 
• Innovations for Successful Societies: Rebooting the System: Technological Reforms in Nigerian Elections, 2010-2011 

Names of contributors
1. Thomas Mathew
2. Ata Okon Elder Ewa
3. Innocent Campos
4. Julius Bucumi
5. Mosotho Moepya
6. Guy Cyrille Tapoko
7. Orrette Fisher
8. Francisco Barrera
9. Deyanira Galindo
10. Georgina Chikoko
11. Neel Kantha Uprety
12. Idi Boina
13. Michel Chevallier
14. Christine Ndayishimiye
15. Adolphe N’soke
16. Emma Togba
17. Rachel Jackson
18. Sellestine Kiuluku

Absenteeism of polling staff is faced by every EMB.  There are two ways to meet the problem:

1. Have about 10% additional persons be trained and stationed at strategic locations as reserves and deploy them wherever shortage of polling staff is reported; and/or

2. Authorize the Presiding Officer of a Polling station to recruit persons locally and assign them jobs which does not require specialised training. 

THIS INDEED IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM. IF PROPER STRATEGY IS NOT PUT IN PLACE TO DEAL WITH THIS SITUATION, THE ELECTORAL PROCESS CAN BE DISRUPTED. ABSENTEEISM OF POLL OFFICIALS CAN NOT BE AVOIDED SINCE NO ONE IS IN CONTROL OF EVENTUAL OCCURRENCES.

TO THIS END, IT IS PROPER TO PUT IN PLACE STRATEGY TO DEAL WITH ANY EVENTUALITY.

THE FIRST THING TO DO IS TO TRAIN AND KEEP IN PLACE A RESERVE LIST OF POLLING STAFF.

THE SECOND STRATEGY IS TO ASSEMBLE ON THE EVE OF ELECTION, ALL DEPLOYED POLLING STAFF TAKE A ROLL CALL IDENTIFY THOSE ABSENT AND REPLACE FROM THE RESERVE LIST.

OFFICIAL MONITORS OF THE ELECTIONS SHOULD SEND FEEDBACK TO THE ELECTORAL OFFICER ON THE FIELD SITUATION ESPECIALLY AS REGARDS THE POLLING STAFF AT THE VOTING CENTERS.

THIS TO A GOOD EXTENT WOULD DEAL WITH ABSENTEEISM OF POLLING STAFF ON ELECTION DAY.

La réponse à cette question est essentielle pour la réussite des élections le jour du scrutin. pour contrer l'absentéïsme et même le présentéïsme des membres du bureau de vote, il convient de dépolitiser leur recrutement, les recruter sur la base des TDR, les déployer sur terrain la veille du scrutin et s'assurer qu'ils y sont, faire en sorte que la majorité des présidents des bureaux de vote soient des femmes, les payer en fonction de leur performance. Il est entendu que les superviseurs devront être dynamiques et actifs sur le terrain.

To hold election is an obliagtion of result for the EMB. Any problem must find solution including absenteeism of the polling staff.

Absenteeism of polling staff can be tackled in the following ways:

1. Train the polling staff on their noble responsibility on the polling day. This is the matter of civic education where every citizen is required to assist, to contribute for the progress of the country.

2. To train more people than required for eventual intervention if case of absenteeim of polling staff.

3. If mens allow it, give incentive to the polling staff who report to the job

4. Hold responsible the polling staff of their absenteeism and edict some penalties.

5. Use any present voter for easy jobs like puting indelible ink on the fingers to fill the gap.

6. In case of high perccentage of absenteeism, trsain the staff in a such way any trained person can be presiding officer. The trained staff can be deployed in different polling stations to preside the polling station.

The EMB will appreciate the appropriated ways to be used according to the election and country environment.

Julius Bucumi, Inspector of Justice in Burundi.

While it is not very clear what the causes of staff absenteeism in large numbers may be, I assume that the causes are casual and not occasioned (e.g., strike or boycott). Where the reasons are simply related to perceived lack of importance foer the electoral events, training more people than required and incentivising actual attendance is proposed. However, this is ocassioned, it is perhaps instructive that an even bigger pool of resuitment be considered in advance, for example, recruitment from ordinary citizens who enjoy public trust, civil servant and where conceivable, members from other structures of the different spheres of government.

Staff absenteeism on the eday is indeed a general problem even across the African continent. the EMB should really tackle this issue, because it cause a lot of trouble on the running of the process.

The tentative solutions i guess are as follow:

- The selection of this staff should be very strict, i.e. only serious an really engage people should be selected even there is a need of an assessment  or an enquiry before selecting them;

- Many EMB's in some countries usually train their pooling staffs a couple of days before the eday. They should be deployed in their respective area of working before training them. that mean EMB's should decentralize their training sessions. The advantage here is that the polling staffs would be already a their position, in contact with the EMB's local officer. 

- Another aspect is the motivation of these staffs, indeed the EMB's have to make sure those staff once appointed are motivated and committed to their job. One of the way of getting there is their accommodation, their meals, their DSA, etc...

When this last aspect is fulfill, the polling staff will be against any temptation and will be able to work properly.

I thank you

Guy Cyrille tapoko

as stated earlier by sevral respondents it is important to train more than the required number and have them strategically placed for deployment in areas where there are shortages.

in addittion, in jamaica each returning officer conducts a meeting with the poll workers the day before the election to provide final briefing. while it does not provide a gurantee, it usually provides an indication of the persons who have no intention of working as they usually miss this meeting.

Para hacer eficiente el trabajo, la asistencia de los miembros de junta, tambien llamados jurados de mesa y finalmente quienes tienen el peso del trabajo electoral, se deben implementar campañas de publicidad, indicando las labores, facilitando la llegada al lugar de trabajo y haciendo publico cualquier incentivo legal para ellos, como descansos en sus labores diarias etc-

Facilitarles las labores electorales, mediante herramientas tecnologicas, cambiar la conformacion de las personas en la mesa en las difrentes elecciones, no sie-

mpre las mismas, incluos nombrar personas que sean mayores de edad, segun los requerimientos de ley, que esten en establecimientos educativos (estudiantes), para ejercer las labores, con algunos incentivos-

Cordial saludo

Dado que las diversas respuestas han sido muy detalladas, sólo quisiera enfocar a tres aspectos importantes:

Si la ley no obliga la participación que conlleve una sanción específica, es importante hacer una campaña de promoción muy fuerte en la cual se enfatice la importancia de la participación: tanto de responsabilidad civil, su contribución a la democracia y a la traspaso pacífico del poder, así como para evitar el fraude y la corrupción.

Asimismo, la difusión de que la falta de participación también le resta su valor a criticar. 

Finalmente, es importante una campaña permanente de educación cívica, a todos los niveles de educación, en la cual todos los ciudadanos tengan un conocimiento general del proceso y algunas funciones generales de los funcionarios de mesas receptoras del voto, para que todos los ciudadanos sean aptos para fungir como tales el día de la elección y tomarlos incluso de la misma fila.

ABSENTEEISM 

on polling day can be caused by many things: sudden illness; emergency issues; difficult transportation; poor motivation;drunkenness; deliberate negligence among others. EMBs learn from previous elections to establish some of the causes in order to come up with proper solutions.

. I agree with the above suggestions that there should be extra personnel trained who will be on standby about 10%.

. After training, poll staff should sign a contract form which will commit them to serve as poll staff and also hold them accountable if they fail.

. If they are given incentives as part of motivation, then this should be done after completing the task.

. EMBs should keep record of all trained poll staff who have worked for it and tack their whereabouts, communicate with them regularly sothat they are aware that they can be called upon in case of absenteeism.

. In case of problematic transpon station, its better that poll staff spend the night before elections within the vicinity of a poll station. EMBs can organize this.

.Fraudulent poll staff should be removed from the data bank and be informed accordingly.

There is no way to predict who is potential to be absence in the poll management work on the E-day! We must improvise  indigenous ways and means of responding such absentee problems. 

Absence of polling staff on the day of polling is a natural but a crucial problems that needs to be managed by any EMB.  I suggest as we have been practicing that there should be an additional  pool of staff trained for poll management. That  poll could be about 10 percent of the total staff to be deployed to the polling centres. In each polling centre we need to  deploy a team of 5 to 7 trained  persons.  The polling centre chief and deputy chief plus other for managing specific duties.   If some staff planned for the specific centre are absent  before the deployment to the polling centre  the staff from the pool can be deployed in place of the previously selected ones. In case of  staff absence due to unavoidable reasons after they are already deployed to the polling location the chief or deputy chief of polling centre must be there to take charge of poll management. ( Absence of  both of the chief and deputy chief causes  postponement of poll on that day).  In case of other staff of the centre are absent they could be replaced by locally available person cable of taking the responsibility. Any job that all other staff in the polling centre are assigned to is not that completed needing long hours training on poll management. So the centre in-charge should give brief training to any one who  is available and capable to rendering the specific job like that of  controlling voters queue, providing services to elderly, pregnant women, women with child, disabled or differently abled  persons, checking the electoral roll and the Id card of the incoming voter, marking the nail with Indelible Ink, issuing the ballot paper to voter or allowing the voter to cast  vote using available system.  I believe these are some of the suggested solutions we have been practicing in our jurisdiction.  

This issue has been thoroughly dealt with herein above, but a few scenarios are worth airing. Absenteeism by poll workers may be due to a variety of reasons, such as illness, acts of God, or sabotage. Illness of a few officers may be easily remedied through holding in reserve trained persons up to 15% of the required number in a particular region or area. Epedemics might raise different challenges. Acts of God may also pose novel challenges, unless specifically provided for in the electoral scheme. Absenteeism by malice whether through civil disturbance, widespread intimidation or a breakdown of election security on polling days may best be dealt with by prior arrangement with the general national security services.

La question est importante, mais facile à trouver de solution: je propose en premier de lancer une campagne de sensibilisation des membres,montrer la responsabilité de chacun et les résultats que chaque membre doit apporter; d'autre part, vous saviez une chose,  je crois que il faut créer une  motivation spéciale du personnel surtout,le jour du scrutin, et  peut solutionner le problème.En plus de sécurise les membres,ce jour du scrutin surtout dans les zones sensibles.

Un pais como Suiza, que se asocia con una democracia funcional, tambien tiene problemas de ausencia de aiutantes de juntas electorales. Intentamos resolverlo de dos maneras: convocando mas personas de lo que se necesita (uno 10%-15%) y ofreciendo una comida en el restaurante despues de la eleccion.

Otras posibilidades pueden ser la introducion del voto a distancia (voto postal, por ejemplo), o incentivos como aceso preferential a servicios publicos, por ejemplo. 

Cette question en rapport avec les absences du personnel affecté aux bureaux de vote, le jour même des élections est fondamentale pour la réussite de tout le processus. C'est pourquoi cette discussion mérite beaucoup d'attention. La première stratégie est d'insister sur l’éducation civique de tout un chacun dans la mesure où les élections est un chantier complexe qui requiert l'engagement de tous les citoyens chacun en ce qui le concerne; pour cela je vous conseille de vous référer à l'expérience du Rwanda. Suite à une campagne de sensibilisation accrue, les rwandais ont presté aux bureaux de vote bénévolement, chacun ayant compris que la réussite  du processus électoral est une affaire de tout le monde. Cette sensibilisation devrait , à mon avis, être continue et non pas attendre la période électorale.

La deuxième stratégie est de prévoir un personnel formé de réserve car même avec la bonne volonté un membre du personnel peut tomber malade le jour même du vote. L'OGE doit être capable de le remplacer avec quelqu'un qui serait apte à prester convenablement.

Quand les absences sont très nombreux, il peut y avoir du sabotage. La meilleure façon d'éviter le sabotage est d’organiser tout le processus dans la transparences qui implique tous les partenaires électoraux.

Je vous remercie

Pour répondre a la question d’absentéisme des membres des bureaux de vote le jour du scrutin il est important:

1- Que lors de la formation de ces membres, que leurs droits et obligations leur soient clairement présentés avec une emphase sur leurs obligations dans la mesure ou l'organisation des élections est tenue a une obligation de résultats et par conséquent les membres retenus pour la tenue de celles ci se doivent d’être responsables face l'engagement pris.

2- Que les recrutements soient faits avec application d'un taux de réserves de staff a tel enseigne que ceux existant sur la base de données et préalablement formes puisque pallier a la situation en cas de nécessite.

3- Que dans les conditions d’éligibilité des membres que le caractère apolitique de ceux-ci soit traite avec rigueur.

4- Que les responsables en charge de l'organisation tiennent eux aussi a leurs engagements afin que la non satisfaction sur le plan des émoluments ne soit l’élément déclencheur de cet absentéisme.

5- Qu'un suivi permanent des membres retenu soit fait du jour de l'annonce de leur recrutement au jour du scrutin afin de se rassurer de leur disponibilité ou de procéder aux remplacements éventuels.

Absenteeism is possible and will always happen. However, having a standby list and a signed comitment about being available on election day may be of help. The full address and telephone numbers for those in standby should be available ahead of time. Also, there should be a cut-off time when an election worker who is expected to man the poll is declared absent. That should be 90 minutes before the start, giving you ample to take corrective actions.

While it doesn't address the issue directly, some of the strategies used by Attahiru Jega at INEC in Nigeria might be helpful including his policies of using youth corps members and university personnel, issuing hazard pay and better insurance and benefits, responding to staff safety concerns, having election staff sleep in election offices near polling stations, and improving training and instilling high morale. There is more information on these policies in ISS's case study here.

Additionally, some of the tech reforms used in the Nigeria elections, such as using mobile phones and social media to keep tabs on issues at polling stations could possibly be adapted to address absenteeism. There is more information on those technological reforms in this second case study here.

The solution to reduce the impact is to train more staff, who can be called upon when absenteeism occurs.  Train staff to multi-task on different roles of polling staff.  Have resources on standby like emergency vehicles, which can be used to ferry additional staff.  Most of the Poll workers during election day are temporary workers, electoral bodies should also have a small pool of its own permanent/long contract staff who can take over in case of an emergency.  Pay poll workers to be motivated them to work too.  Also maintain constant communication with the polling station and let poll workers sleep in the polling station the night before election, then provide them with meals to avoid complains.

Finally have poll workers sign contract of engagement where they commit themselves to the exercise before the election day.