Introduction
Every election requires competent, professional, efficient, and impartial electoral managers. The scale of the task is often formidable. Yet with experience and the awareness of the importance of their work to the strength of their country's democratic system, election officials around the world are able to administer credible elections in a wide variety of circumstances. To put the work of the average electoral manager in perspective, a few statistics are quoted below about the Indian General Election of 5 June 1996:
- 590 million voters using 825,000 voting sites
- all voters could vote within two kilometres of their home
- in one election, 480 candidates contested one seat; the overall average was 26 candidates per seat
- the entire process was completed manually between 7 and 11 May 1996
- twenty-five thousand tons of paper were used and the cost was around U.S. $200 million
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The efficient conduct of electoral processes requires an adequate and competent staff. Nothing brings a process into disarray quicker than having insufficient staff and/or poorly prepared staff. The first consideration in electoral management should be the appointment and training of staff.
Every meeting of electoral managers produced horror stories: how a simple mistake by a poll worker (which always seems to happen in the most tightly contested area) altered the result of the election with major consequences for the staff and electoral manager concerned. Nothing can guarantee that mistakes will not occur, but having good quality and properly trained staff, working on an agreed plan, will go a long way.
Overview
All participants in the electoral process - the voter, the candidate, the party manager, the media, the observers - feel their own contributions are vitally important. In reality, the key people in the process are the electoral managers, without whom the election would not take place. During the process, the role of the electoral manager may not be high profile, because the scale of the task is not usually appreciated by the other participants. What is absolutely clear, however, is that if the electoral process runs into trouble, everyone's attention will turn to the electoral manager.
The smooth administration of the election reflects well on the electoral managers, but problems may well result in disproportionate blame on the managers. In order for the election to go well, the initial strategic and operational planning of the process are vital. Electoral processes that start with major problems rarely get better.
Principal Administrative Considerations
What are the main administrative considerations that the electoral manager should look at and take into account? The overall principles that will assist in providing a quality process need to be identified. These include the following:
- transparency - the process must be open to scrutiny and accessible to all participants
- accountability - there needs to be clear ownership and accountability of the electoral process; everyone needs to know where responsibility lies for decisions and what is the line of command
- secrecy - the participants must be confident that the actual voting process is secret and secure and that the choices of individual voters remain personal to them
- fraud and electoral offences - there must be proper systems to avert fraud during the electoral process and a clear code of offences so that all the participants know the penalties for inappropriate behaviour
- open communications - there must be ability for all participants and the general public to obtain information about the electoral process and, in turn, the effective distribution of information about the process by the electoral managers
Administrative Processes
In terms of administrative process, emphasis must be placed on
- a clear strategic plan setting out the core areas of activity and what has to be achieved,
- a clear operational plan setting out the detail of the process and the time scale,
- procedures to appoint key staff and properly train and equip them in advance of the process, as well as systems for the appointment and training of temporary staff,
- a fair and widely publicised system for dealing with complaints,
- systems and processes in accord with the electoral law with the goal being to implement systems that are simple to apply and to understand. The electoral process at the operational level is likely to be in the hands of temporary staff; complex systems require more time to explain and to train staff and are more likely to result in mistakes.
Automation
Because much electoral work is repetitive and lends itself to automation, choosing and implementing the right system is a key part of the administrative process. Fortunately for many election officials, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, because someone somewhere has automated every part of the electoral process. Consulting with counterparts in countries that have automated parts of the electoral process generally proves to be an excellent source of information, independent of the biases and sales approach of those involved in marketing the latest hardware and software. In addition to their experience with a particular piece of equipment or programme, those who have automated some aspect of election administration will be able to share valuable insights from the process as a whole, one of which invariably is not to attempt to introduce major new systems without allowing adequate time for training and testing.
Administrative Structures
There are numerous options for administrative structures, ranging from the National Electoral Commission with direct responsibility for the entire electoral process to more decentralised systems that place responsibility with local commissions or electoral managers. The advantages and disadvantages of these structures are explained in Administrative Bodies, National, Regional and Local Election Bodies, and Relationship of Regional and Local Bodies to Higher-Level Bodies. Whatever structure is used, it is important to ensure that there is at every level a clear understanding of the duties of the participants and that they all know exactly what the law and regulations require.
Innovation in electoral practice is to be encouraged. The introduction of illustrated voter education and poll worker training materials were considered innovative when first introduced in many countries. The scope for discretion, however, is necessarily narrow; no electoral manager wants staff going off and introducing what they think are better processes without ensuring that they comply with the law and regulations. Clear line management and setting the extent (if any) of the discretion staff have is essential.
Keeping It Simple
Elections are full of jargon and acronyms. Many people do not want to appear ignorant so do not ask what all these complicated terms mean. Remember that whilst the electoral managers at the core of the process will know all the details and technical terms, practically none of the voters will. At every stage, explain what is required in simple terms and adopt the most simple process possible. Many guides, electoral laws, and other documents are quoted here in the electoral management topic area. The best examples include a section explaining the meaning of all the technical terms and acronyms used, making these documents much easier to understand.
