Purpose
The purpose of voting compartments, or voting booths, is to allow voters to mark or select their choices of candidate or party in secret. It does not require expensive (in both production and storage terms) durable equipment. However, where 'mark choice' ballots are used, and no tables are available in the voting station, it will need to be of solid free-standing or interlocked construction and contain a strong writing tray.
Design
Common alternatives in styles of voting compartments would include:
Table-top models, which need be little more than a simple double or single fold piece of corrugated cardboard, which can be taped to a table, or of durable wood, plastic, or metal. These should be of sufficient height to prevent voters in adjoining compartments being able to view each other's ballots.
Free-standing voting compartments, of disposable corrugated cardboard or durable wood, metal, or plastic. Durable equipment of this nature is bulky and expensive to store, maintain in good repair, and transport. If of durable construction, storage and transport costs can be reduced if voting compartments can be kept in permanent, secure storage at the voting site, particularly for voting stations in rural areas. This will presume the availability of the same voting sites for successive elections.
Drop cloths of dark or opaque fabric, with the addition of some nails, can be cost-effectively used to curtain off areas in which a table can be placed. In the same, but more design-conscious, vein, commercially produced compartments, featuring cloth hanging from a supporting frame, are also available, at a cost.
The important thing is that voting remains secret. Even split cardboard boxes, taped to a tabletop, may be suitable in an emergency.
Where table-top or free-standing compartments are used, the writing area within the compartment would preferably be wide and deep enough to allow the ballot paper to be placed on it without having to be folded. The height of the compartment above the writing surface level should be sufficient to prevent voters in adjoining compartments from viewing each other's ballots.
In systems where voters have to mark their choice of party or candidate on the ballot, voting compartments should contain some means of attaching a pen or pencil to the compartment. Where normal tables with a makeshift screen are used, this could be as simple as attaching the writing implements with tape or string. Specially designed voting compartments with a self contained writing surface would preferably have a drilled hole through which the writing implement can be attached.
Disposable Cardboard Compartments
Where disposable free-standing compartments are used, they need to be rigid and solid when assembled. Some voters are likely to place young children, briefcases, or that morning's shopping on the writing surface while completing their vote. Most fully recycled corrugated board does not have sufficient strength. Best results have generally come from using corrugated board made from a mix of recycled and virgin pulp. Effective construction would normally mean an interlocking design in which each screen is supported by the one on either side.
Using cardboard voting compartments will allow printing of voting instructions directly onto the side of the compartment directly facing the voter rather than having to print and affix separate instruction posters.
For examples of specifications for cardboard voting compartments, see Cardboard Polling Booth (cardboard) - New Zealand 1997, Cardboard Voting Compartment - Australia (interlocking free-standing) and Cardboard Table Top Voting Compartment - Australia (table-top).
Quantities Required
Quantities of voting compartments supplied to each voting station will depend on:
- the number of voters to be serviced;
- the time during which the voting station will be open;
- the average time estimated for each voter to complete the ballot.
This will, in turn, depend on the number of ballots to be completed, and the complexity of the voting procedure. Exhaustively marked full preferential ballots will take longer to complete than those on which a single mark has to be placed.
It is important that sufficient voting compartments are provided to each voting station to allow a smooth flow of voters through the voting station. Having insufficient voting compartments is often a cause of delays in voting, as ballots should not be issued to voters until there is a vacant voting compartment. Conversely, if ballots continue to be issued when all voting compartments are occupied, voting secrecy is likely to be compromised as voters may then complete their ballots in the open.
Supply quantities of voting compartments in various jurisdictions would generally be in the range of one compartment for every one to two hundred voters, depending on the factors listed above. In France, using an enveloped ballot system where the voter chooses which party or candidate ballot to place in the ballot envelope, the ratio is one screen to two hundred voters. For Australian national elections, where each voter has to complete two ballots--one a fully marked preferential ballot and the other a ballot which can be marked with a single party reference or an exhaustive preferential numbering of candidates--the ratio is one compartment to every 120 voters.
Larger quantities of compartments would need to be allocated to specific voting stations where voters may take longer than average to complete ballots. These groups may include:
- aged voters;
- voters unfamiliar with voting procedures;
- voters of lower literacy, or from minority language groups.
Where free-standing compartments are normally used, at least one table-top version should be issued to each voting station for the use of disabled voters.
