Aims
As voting is generally a geographically dispersed activity which often has to be organised and implemented within very tight time frames, providing a cost-effective voting service for all eligible voters whilst maintaining high standards of integrity, security and professionalism is a major challenge to electoral management bodies.
Organising and operating facilities that will provide an opportunity for all eligible persons to participate, through voting, in the choice of their representatives in their institutions of governance is the most publicly visible activity and the prime focus of electoral management.
Solutions Appropriate to the Environment
Legal frameworks, administrative procedures and work practices for voting operations are highly environment specific, a product of both cultural and physical characteristics and administrative and infrastructure capacities. Good practices or cost-effective solutions for voting operations in a specific environment may not be appropriate to other environments.
These few examples illustrate this important point:
- systems based on high levels of technology may be effective (and expected by the voting public) in highly developed environments, yet provide ineffective solutions where there is insufficient local support or infrastructure base to sustain their operations;
- low cost disposable voting equipment may be effective in dry weather, low security risk environments, but inappropriate for use in wet/humid environments or high security risk situations;
- intense involvement of state security forces in voting operations security may be appropriate in high risk situations where security forces are accepted by the voting public as non-partisan, yet be highly inappropriate where there is little assessed security risk to voting operations, or where these forces have a history of politically partisan activity.
Hence this Voting Operations topic area focuses more on the available alternatives, and the factors that require careful consideration in determining what are good, cost-effective solutions for a particular environment. It does attempt to identify those good or essential practices for maintaining voting operations integrity that can be translated into any environment.
Key Issues
In any electoral environment there are similar key issues for which effective solutions have to be found, if voting operations are to promote public confidence in the integrity and professionalism of electoral management, and acceptance of election results. Significant amongst these are:
What are the most suitable Voting Arrangements? What range and mix of facilities for voting--from voting at the local voting station through special provisions for voting in a particular manner, for example, by mail, absentee, before general election day or, in particular locations, in remote areas or institutions--provides all eligible voters the opportunity to vote in a cost-effective manner?
What are the Administrative Considerations that, along with legal frameworks, provide the basis for an electoral management body's Planning of voting operations? As a highly complex combination of processes, voting operations require careful planning and trials of proposed solutions before implementation.
What are the appropriate types, designs, and quantities of election Materials and Equipment? Voting is a massive information transfer exercise, which demands effective materials and equipment solutions to ensure that information is transferred accurately, on time, and by means that are readily understood. Needless complexity of materials, or inappropriate reliance on technology, can have a significant negative effect on the effectiveness with which information is transferred and processed.
What are effective means for determining the location of Voting Sites and ensuring that they are designed to promote voter service and are properly provisioned, through implementation of effective Logistics strategies? Promoting accessibility and efficiency of voting processes, through identification of appropriate sites for and capacities of voting stations, is a major ingredient in implementing a successful election.
What are the ways to ensure that voting stations are manned by sufficient, well-trained staff. National elections are often the most extensive Staffing and Training exercise undertaken in a country. Staff costs are generally a significant proportion of overall election costs and a major area where attention to effective procedures can result in cost savings. Training of voting operations staff is often an overlooked but vital factor in ensuring that voting procedures are properly and efficiently implemented.
What are appropriate methods of providing Voter Information that will reach the various sectors of the voting population and stimulate participation in voting. As genuine participation rises, so can perceptions of election legitimacy. Voter information programs play a major role in encouraging participation through providing accessible information on where, when and how to vote. Special attention may need to be paid to methods for informing sectors of the population, such as minority cultural or language groups, the young, the aged, or those in remote areas who may not have access to mainstream information sources.
What are cost-effective means of ensuring that voting operations have a high level of integrity in materials production and handling, in voting procedures and in providing an appropriate level of Security for all aspects of the electoral process. Adequate measures to deter voting fraud and to enable participants in the election process--voters, officials, political activists and candidates--to participate without fear of intimidation or harm are essential bases of election integrity.
Which work practices and procedures for Voting Hours Operations will provide a high service level to voters when they turn out to vote in a cost-effective manner? Different election systems will place different procedural requirements on voting station activities. However, there are basic elements in providing service to voters that transcend system differences:
- maintaining an orderly, speedy flow of voters through the voting station;
- conducting accurate checks that voters are eligible to vote;
- issuing and accurately accounting for voting material;
- assisting voters who need further information or assistance to vote;
- strictly maintaining voting secrecy.
What is the Role of Party/Candidate Representatives and the functions of independent Election Observation in monitoring voting operations processes to provide an external check that these are implemented fairly and with integrity? With increased use of independent observation as a method of evaluating election processes and validating elections, it is important that observer activity is undertaken from a sound basis.
What are the best ways to ensure that there is continuous improvement in voting operations management through careful assessment and 'poi' and their frameworks, policies and practices?
The objective of this topic area is to provide some guidance as to the considerations and alternatives with regard to these and subsidiary issues.
Service Provision
Implementing voting operations is similar to managing a high volume, complex production process. A large number and variety of inputs from many different sources have to be melded into a high quality product on an immutable date. Even though it is generally a monopoly product, and electoral administrators may be under great pressure to produce by the required date, the core value of voting operations--providing a cost-effective 'service' to voters to enable them to exercise their democratic right to vote freely and fairly--cannot be stressed highly enough.
