Basic Issues
However effective the pre-voting day voter information campaigns, access to voter information at the voting station itself will be a necessity. Voter information provided at voting locations should not only be geared to assisting voters in understanding the voting procedures but also to promoting effective accessibility to and crowd control within the voting station. (For general use of voting locations for voter information purposes, see Statutory Authorities.)
General Information
Voter accessibility and passage through the voting station is enhanced if prominent signage is used. This starts outside the voting station itself, with the use of a prominent sign identifying the voting station location. Directional signs to the voting station in the surrounding area or streets will assist accessibility. Posters or signs advising that a location is going to be used as a voting station can be placed at the location a few days before voting day. This would also apply to institutions being covered by mobile voting facilities, where posters advertising the day and time of visits by mobile voting stations should be placed at relevant points within the institutions a few days before the scheduled visits.
Within the voting station, prominent signage and directional arrow signs can be effectively used for crowd control, identifying any areas with specific functions, such as entrances, exits, ballot issue area, voter information points, special voting facilities areas, queuing points, and restrooms. While provision of this signage is at additional costs, it can greatly enhance the effectiveness of voter traffic flow and reduce the general inquiry load on polling officials. Simple posters reinforcing required conduct--such as voting secrecy, smoking or no-smoking areas, prohibitions on political campaigning within the voting station area, littering prohibition--should also be displayed.
In developing materials design, production and supply plans, the types and quantities of voting station general signage required need to be considered.
Information on Rights and Procedures
Displaying printed information on voting rights and procedures will also reduce the time spent by staff on dealing with voter information needs. Formats could be:
- a pamphlet or booklet giving full information, available at an information point by the voting station entrance;
- wall posters prominently displayed around the voting station.
Posters may be less expensive and tend to be less disruptive to voter flow, as they provide constant information to all voters in the voting station. Wider and faster comprehension will be achieved if simple, bold illustrations of the actions required from a voter are used, rather than textual explanations. Where voting procedures are complex, or where multiple language groups have to be accommodated in the one voting station, there may be no choice but to back up the basic information on posters with a more comprehensive booklet. (For an example of multilingual poster materials informing voters on how to mark their ballots, see Ballot Paper Completion Instructions - New Zealand.)
There are a number of specific subjects that these information materials could cover to assist in voter service, including:
- maps of the electoral area covered by the voting station, and information on other voting locations or facilities placed at the entrance to the voting station;
- posters advising voters to have their identification documents ready for inspection and showing the identification documents required to be produced;
- information on the rights of voters to vote and any challenge mechanisms;
- information on how to correctly mark a ballot and place it in the ballot box, or use the voting computer or machine correctly;
- information on facilities for physically impaired voters or other voters needing assistance or special facilities;
- information on contesting candidates or parties.
Where election systems of representation are complex (e.g., where voters must mark a number of preferences in a specified fashion on the ballot, or where simultaneous elections using different voting method are being held, and especially where they are being used for the first time) material explaining the representation system may also be useful information within the voting station. (For examples of these, see MMP Explained in Two Ticks - New Zealand and MMP Explained - Multi Lingual Pamphlet - New Zealand.)
Role of Voting Operations Officials
Information on display needs to be backed up by trained officials capable of answering voter queries. Apart from those voters who may need assistance in understanding the common voting procedures, there are many voter information issues that can only be handled personally, such as redirections to the correct voting station and eligibility for special methods of voting.
The role of voting operations officials as service providers should be foremost. They are the public face of the election machine. Their ability to provide information and their attitude towards voters in need of assistance are a large factor in determining public perceptions of the professionalism of electoral management.
Whether staff should be specifically allocated to information assistance roles will depend on factors such as the size of the voter turnout expected and the general levels of understanding of the voting system by voters. Where voting stations are catering to small numbers of voters and the voting system is stable and well known, senior polling officials may be able to cope with information duties in addition to their management roles.
In larger voting stations, and generally in any environment where new voting procedures have been introduced, there are large numbers of new participants in voting processes, or more complex computer or machine-based voting methods are used, additional officials with a specific voter information role would preferably be employed. Such duties would include redirection of any voters who have turned out at a voting station at which they are not eligible to vote.
Provision of such staff will need to be planned in recruitment programs and in developing training packages. Staff in voter information roles will need a broader understanding of voting processes than staff engaged in more routine functions, and their training will need to be commensurate with this. (For further discussion of use of voting sites for electoral information dissemination, see 'vec02e02', and of general staff roles in voting stations, see Staff Categories and Duties.)
