Introduction.
The electoral manager will have many responsibilities. To summarise these in one sentence: The
manager's task is to carry out the electoral process in accordance with the law and in a manner
which deals fairly and equally with all participants and which is likely to gain the confidence of
all concerned. Acting in this way will contribute greatly to the legitimacy of the persons elected.
All electoral managers and their staff should be fully aware that the responsibilities they have are
onerous and mistakes can be costly both in financial and personal terms.
The United Kingdom (GB) Electoral Law includes provisions setting out the consequences of a
breach of official duty - which is a criminal offence. This provision is intended to make it clear to
everyone working on the election in an official position that they are required to carry out their
duties in accordance with the law and regulations and that there are severe implications if they do
not do so.
Complying with the electoral law sounds easy. In practice, however, the responsibilities of the
electoral manager go far beyond compliance. The electoral law is unlikely to prescribe how to
appoint staff, how to procure materials, what computer system to acquire, how to design a poll
workers manual, how to prepare budgets or many other aspects of the electoral process. These
are the areas where the electoral manager is able to use discretion. In some ways, using one's
discretion can be more difficult than complying with the narrow requirements of the law.
In carrying out all these other responsibilities and throughout the whole process, the electoral
manager should be guided by the principles of
- openness - all procedures should be as transparent as possible and accessible to and open to
inspection by interested parties;
- impartiality - every participant to the process whether a voter, candidate or party should be
dealt with in a completely non-partisan manner;
- professionalism- the implementation of tasks in a professional, confident and competent
manner are likely to increase confidence and respect for the electoral process.
