Telecommunications information transfer is an essential part of running a modern election. The telephone has for many years been a key method of communication in election administration. More recently, other electoral telecommunication uses have been found for telephone lines, including faxes, telexes, video conferences and data transmission.
Telephones
The telephone remains the most commonly used telecommunication device. Telephones can be used to call someone in the next room, the next building, another city or another country. Their uses for electoral administration are obvious and plentiful.
Modern telephones can incorporate a range of sophisticated functions, including the ability to store names and numbers of contacts, to display the number of the caller and to carry out multi-person conferences. Answering machines can be used with telephones to take messages when a telephone is not answered or is busy.
Many organisations have complex internal telephone networks that allow calls to be made 'internally' at low or no cost. Features of internal telephone networks include call forwarding, call redirection when telephones are unanswered or busy, and message banks and answering machines to take recorded messages.
The telephone can be an important part of an electoral authority's public communication campaign. Teams of people in telephone call centres can be employed to handle large numbers of calls from the public. Database inquiry systems can be used by call centres to enable casual staff to handle relatively complex inquiries and to keep records of the number and type of calls. Special national 'free call' or low cost inquiry telephone numbers can be used and advertised widely. These generally easy to remember numbers enable the public to telephone a call centre from anywhere in the country for no or minimal cost, the cost of the calls being met by the electoral authority.
Mobile telephones
The portability of the mobile (or cellular) telephone has increased the usefulness of the telephone still further. Mobile phones allow individuals to move from location to location while remaining contactable. For electoral administration this is particularly useful for mobile polling teams or roving supervisors. Mobile phones can also be supplied to polling stations where fixed telephones may not be available.
Mobile phones can also be used to connect computers to dial-up network connections, email and the internet.
Mobile phones do have limitations. Coverage by transmission receivers may not be complete, so that mobile phones may not work in some places, particularly remote areas. Mobile phones rely on rechargeable batteries, so they can only be used for a finite time before their batteries need recharging. There may also be some possibility of receiving physical damage from using mobile phones for extended periods, although medical evidence for this is contradictory and not conclusive.
Fax machines
Fax (or facsimile) machines, which send and receive copies of documents over telephone lines, are also used extensively for electoral purposes. They are very effective at transmitting copies of documents very quickly from one location to another. Some fax machines can also be used as local photocopiers. Fax machines can be used for specific electoral purposes where copies of documents must be supplied for legislative purposes, such as candidate nominations or election results. Transmission of such documents by fax may mean that information is supplied much faster than would be possible if the original documents had to be physically delivered. Special legislative provision may be needed to give legal status to copies of documents received by fax.
The role of fax machines has been diminished in recent years by the rise in popularity and availability of email. Email is preferable to fax transmission where large numbers of pages need to be sent, and copies printed from email tend to be better quality than faxed copies. However, where documents contain non-electronic annotations such as signatures or handwriting, or where documents are not available on computer, fax transmission remains useful.
Fax machines can be programmed to keep records of frequently used numbers, and faxes can 'stream' copies of the same document to large numbers of recipients in quick succession.
Telex
Telex transmissions were common up until the 1980s, but recently have been made largely redundant by faxes and email facilities. Telex machines send typed text from one machine to another using telecommunications lines.
Video conferencing
Video conferencing was in its infancy in the 1990s, but increases in technology and capability of data transfer saw it becoming more common in the 2000s. Video conferencing uses video cameras and microphones to record images and sounds. This enables people in different locations to hold conversations where participants can see and hear other participants using computer screens and loudspeakers. As the name suggests, video conferencing can be used to replace face-to-face conferences, allowing relatively large numbers of participants to join in a common discussion while remaining in separate locations.
While video conferencing may save money and time by eliminating travel expenses for meetings, they are by their nature relatively limited in their scope and do not readily permit the interpersonal 'networking' that can occur at a face-to-face conference.
Data transmission
The 1990s and 2000s also saw a greatly increased use of telecommunications for transmission of data. Telecommunications lines originally designed for telephone voice communication are also capable of transmitting computer-readable data, thereby facilitating such innovations as the internet and email. See The internet and Email for further details.
