Record keeping is a vital element of the election manager's task. Elections are very heavily
dependent upon accurate records which are kept in appropriate conditions. It can also be a costly
operation. Records will be needed at many stages of the process, including:
- voter registration - it will be necessary to retain in some form or other the details relied upon
to add a person or delete a person from the voters' lists;
- nomination of candidates -
forms will be required on which candidates will outline their qualifications for office and,
possibly, a personal statement;
- party registration;
- staff appointments - to work on behalf of the EMB to carry out the functions of the election;
- for information and documents returned from the polling places, including registers used,
unused ballot papers, etc.;
- for documents returned after the count and announcement of results - including ballot papers
counted, spoilt ballots and declarations of results;
- possibly after an election retaining
details of the amounts spent by candidates in support of their candidacy;
- regarding information about materials, equipment and supplies used;
- for record of expenditure;
- for written evaluation of events.
Legislative provisions will dictate in most instances the length of time, duration and possibly
conditions under which all the above should be retained. The provisions are also likely to
specify the person responsible for their safe retention.
Safe and secure storage of all this material is essential. Safe and secure storage may not come
cheaply, however, and a factor to be considered is the length of time that such information should
be sorted before it is effectively destroyed. In addition to the length of storage is the question of
whether all the materials should be brought to one central storage facility or whether it should be
held in local offices. Decisions about which location is chosen will depend, in part, on the
culture of the country and the strength and reputation of the local office holders and their
capacity to discharge this function effectively. Local retention of documents is likely to be more
easily accommodated at lower cost than creating a special facility to hold all the material for a
country or state, with the additional layers of security, bureaucracy and cost which will inevitably
be entailed. The conditions for storage should be secure, watertight and compatible with the
need to maintain good storage conditions in a particular country given its climatic conditions.
The materials are retained to enable the election to be challenged and for voters to be satisfied as
to their registrations. The records must be stored in such a way that will allow for easy retrieval.
The arrangements for elections, in terms of numbered polling stations, etc., tends to provide the
necessary infrastructure for such a retrieval system.
The need for retrieval systems should be made clear to all those involved in the process. The
systems will often be dependent upon the indexing systems used for the distribution of materials
and personnel. These are likely to be based on a series of characters or numbers identifying
polling stations and the voter roll, candidates and other materials used in the election.
Access to such documentation, if allowed for in legislation, should not be prohibitively
expensive, although it would not be unreasonable to seek to recoup some costs by charging a
small sum for inspection and copying rights.
The EMB should retain within its offices detailed records of voter registration, electoral turnout
and results, costs of elections, etc., to form part of the historical record of the EMB and for
political study purposes. This information should be readily available without charge.
An important consideration in all issues relating to the retention of records is clear
documentation explaining what is being handed over to enable an audit trail to be established.
Many of the records may be capable of storage on microfilm or computerized systems including
Cdroms which may be costly but more efficient for retrieval purposes. The decision will be
made on a country by country basis in the light of all the necessary factors.
