Basic Administrative Considerations
There are a number of issues that will shape the effective administration of voting operations. It is important to recognise that effective responses to these issues will be environment specific. There is no one model that will be most effective in any situation due to availability of resources, cultural environment, stages of technological development and the like. Basic administrative considerations include:
- the objectives of each task within the area of voting operations;
- the administrative structures, actions and time frames dictated by legal and electoral management system frameworks (for further discussion of these, see Electoral Legislation, Administrative Regulations and Electoral Management Structure);
- within any such restraints, a cost-effective administrative structure to ensure election integrity and service delivery (for some discussion of this issue see Electoral Management Structure);
- a calendar for effective delivery of election services;
- the resources that are required for effective planning and implementation of voting operations services to achieve the objectives within the expected time frames, and how they can best be acquired, managed and maintained;
- which organisations are to be involved in delivering voting operations services and what are their responsibilities (see Responsibilities to Provide Voting Operations Services);
- how information necessary for the provision of voting operations services is best managed;
- how the performance of the administrative structures in implementing voting operations activities is to be administratively monitored and evaluated;
- the contingency structures required in case of management failure or changes in the environment.
There will be special factors relevant to these considerations in less developed countries. Some issues relevant to these situations are discussed at Special Considerations in Less Developed Countries. (For detailed discussion of administrative considerations for electoral management bodies see Administration Considerations and Management Considerations - Introduction.)
Goal-Oriented Planning
Without first setting the objective of each voting operations task, the planning and determination of structures, procedures, budgets and resource allocations will be considerably more difficult and more likely to be ineffective. There will be less ability to consider cost-effective alternatives. Objectives could be of a varying nature, or multiple nature, for the one task. Some examples would be:
- coverage objectives, such as the target segments and proportions of the voting population that voter information campaigns must reach;
- access objectives, such as the maximum distance voters should have to travel to reach a voting station;
- efficiency or productivity objectives, such as rates at which administrative documentation (inventories, candidate nomination checks, etc.) can be processed, and the time taken to issue voting materials to a voter;
- service objectives, such as response times to electors' queries, the maximum time a voter should be expected to wait in a queue before being issued voting material, and expected knowledge levels of polling staff;
- accuracy objectives, such as acceptable error rate (if any) in quantities of materials supplied;
- deadlines for completion of administrative tasks in order to meet legislative framework obligations.
During the voting operations process it is important that such objectives be regularly reviewed and assessed against trends in the current environment. (Planning issues are further discussed in Planning.)
Administrative Structures
The focus of voting operations activity is at a local level, and effective administrative structures will mirror this by providing focal points at the local level for individual electoral districts or regional groups of electoral districts where the electoral system has individual constituency representation, or by clustering voting stations in regional administrative groups where proportional representation systems for provincial or national elections use a single large electoral district.
How this local presence is developed will depend on the nature of the electoral management body--permanent or temporary, centralised or distributed, with continuous functions or concerned only with voting operations of a single election. (Different models for electoral administrative structures in general are discussed at Types of Electoral Management Bodies and for voting operations at Electoral Management Structure.)
What is important under all administrative arrangements is that a core of voting operations skills and knowledge is developed and maintained. Even where electoral management bodies are not permanent, programs of regular skill revision and enhancement will give some readiness assurance, and prove more reliable and often less costly than recruiting and training new networks of voting operations administrative staff for each election.
Resource Acquisition and Maintenance
Voting operations is a complex resourcing and administration process, high speed, high volume, geographically dispersed, demanding quality and accuracy and with diverse inputs. In some ways it is like a high-volume production line manufacturing quality goods, demanding
- timely arrival of inputs--ballots, forms, and equipment--must arrive in sufficient time so that processes continue smoothly, yet not so early as to create additional costs;
- intensive logistics support;
- careful planning of simultaneous and sequential interdependent tasks;
- a large workforce of varying basic skill levels that needs to be trained to perform specific tasks accurately and quickly;
- a market that has to be 'sold' through voter information how and where to use the product and be convinced of the product's consistent quality (integrity, impartiality, service).
Cost-effective voting operations administration has to be aware of not only what resources are needed, but also the optimal periods for acquiring and retaining these resources. The need to mobilise large quantities of resources quickly, both for materials and in recruiting and training personnel, can cause both internal operational strains and make demands that stretch suppliers' ability to perform.
Effective integration of personnel, equipment and materials needs into budget planning and expenditure control requires pro-active cooperation and integration of decision making between the financial and operational management arms of voting operations, not the maintenance of separate, non-communicative fiefdoms.
Planning of resource acquisition needs across the whole election cycle, commencing with thorough reviews of performance immediately following completion of an election to determine significant needs for the next election, will give greater assurance of readiness (see Planning).
The use of partial elections (by-elections) and regular simulations to test performance in general, and new systems and procedures in particular, is an effective means of maintaining and improving the voting operations resource base.
Time Frames
While major voting operations time frames, such as periods from announcement or election to voting day period for nomination of candidates, will generally be set by legislation, each of these major time frames will encompass the completion of subsidiary sequential or simultaneous tasks, for which administrative deadlines need to be determined.
Within the imposed legal framework administrative deadlines should be set to maximise effective service and resource use. The time frames should be realistic for the objectives of the task, recognising that, in general, a shorter time frame will require higher resource use. Particular consideration needs to be given to what is meant by realistic time frames in post-conflict environments, where post-traumatic stress and/or inter-communal hostilities may affect coordination, decision-making and participation, and work-rates.
Management of Information
At the heart of good voting operations administration is effective information management and analysis. This may be aided, or merely complicated, by the use of technology (see Use of Technology). Voting operations can require vast amounts of reliable information from local levels to be gathered and translated into budget, voting locations, materials, staffing, communications, other logistical requirements, and performance monitoring. It is important to prioritise and consolidate information needs and ensure that requests for the same data are not emanating from multiple sources, so as not to cause data fatigue in those providing the information. Such fatigue may lead to poorly compiled data or no data at all being provided.
In seeking and using information, voting operations administrators need to carefully establish
- clear objectives for gathering the information, and frame information requests and analysis accordingly (for example, to establish total resource needs or simply additional resource needs);
- a format for information inquiries that assists the provision of precise data from individual sources that is consistent, comparable and easily summarised;
It is important that voting operations task sequencing and time frames are congruent with information availability. Timing of information availability is a vital consideration in voting operations planning, particularly if voting operations administrators are dependent on externally gathered data to manage effectively. Availability of accurate population or registered voter data is a salient example. When this is available, it is critical for the effective planning, locating, resourcing and training for voting stations. The information needs of voting operations must be integrated into the planning of other facets of the management of the election.
Performance Monitoring
Without continual monitoring of the quality and progressive completion of voting operations tasks, it is not possible to determine whether objectives are being met and responsibilities effectively discharged. There is a particular need for intensive monitoring in the few days before and on voting day--a period of critical activity with little time to redress errors. Monitoring programs should be built into the administration of all voting operations tasks to allow early identification of any deficiencies and their rectification.
At the completion of voting operations, internal and/or independent evaluation of performance of relevant activities is essential if future improvement is to be attained.
Contingency Management
Perfect performance of planned voting operations activities is a laudable goal, but it is all too rarely achieved. Within the administration of voting operations there must be a facility to foresee possible contingencies, plan potential responses and react quickly to system failure or environment changes. (For further discussion on this issue see Contingency Plans.)
