Basic Issues
Ensuring that staff appointed to voting stations have transportation available to enable them to report for duty is an essential issue in ensuring voting station readiness. In the week before voting day, electoral district managers, through their voting station managers, need to review that acceptable transport arrangements, both to and from voting stations, are in place for all voting station officials. All hired transport arrangements for voting station staff should also be reconfirmed with contractors at this time.
Provision of Transport
To ensure that voting station officials arrive at their voting station, it may be necessary for the electoral management body to arrange transportation through shuttle buses or similar arrangements. Clear notice as to departure and arrival times should be provided to all staff, preferably with the voting station official's appointment documentation. Voting station managers should confirm that all their staff understand these transportation arrangements.
Provision of special transportation for voting station officials can be necessary particularly in environments where:
- there is low private vehicle ownership and public transportation systems are unreliable;
- security risks are high, necessitating escort of voting station officials to and from duty by security forces.
Travelling as a group in a single vehicle will make protection of voting station officials' safety more certain. While additional costs may be incurred, in these circumstances it is a small price to pay to ensure that all staff can report for duty.
Rural and Remote Areas
While it is preferable that voting station officials be appointed from within the local community, there will be occasions where staff have to be imported to rural and remote areas. Transport arrangements need to ensure that:
- staff are transported in sufficient time to undertake all their duties effectively;
- reliable transport is provided, so voting station staff are not stranded in a remote area;
- particularly in remote areas, voting station staff are able to report their arrival and departure to the electoral district manager (radio equipment in the transport used may be necessary for this).
Where staff duties involve recruiting and training local assistants, or taking delivery of materials and setting up voting stations, staff may need to be transported several days before voting day. Similarly, if long distances are to be travelled, it is unrealistic to expect staff to drive all night and then function effectively in a voting station in the morning.
Where overnight stays are involved, suitable accommodation and provisioning also needs to be arranged. It is important for staff performance in these situations that care is taken with accommodation arrangements; a tired and hungry voting station manager and staff may not perform at their best during long hours of duty on voting day.
Developed Societies
In developed societies, it is not unreasonable to expect that voting station officials make their own way to and from their duties, though a transportation allowance may need to be paid, especially where travel distances are considerable. Any potential transportation difficulties should be requested from and discussed with staff at the time of their appointment; cost-effective arrangements through use of staff car pooling and the like can usually be made.
Mobile Voting Stations/Roving Supervisors
Transportation arrangements for mobile voting stations need also to be planned in advance. In urban areas, mobile voting stations would normally require access to a vehicle. Car rental would be usual, though paying transportation allowances to mobile voting officials for using their private vehicles can be more cost-effective.
In remote areas, mobile voting stations may need access to air or water transport to access all voting locations on their route. Availability of such transport at a reasonable cost must be taken into account when assessing viable mobile voting station routes and itineraries. It is important that any required air or sea charter arrangements are made early; leaving them to the last minute can result in excessive transport costs.
(Transport arrangements for mobile voting stations are further discussed at Other Special Voting Arrangements and Remote Areas.)
Any roving voting station supervisors (see Other Voting Operations Staff) will also require access to a vehicle during voting hours and the count. Suitable vehicles for the terrain, and, if acting as a mobile emergency materials supply source, materials cartage, will need to be provided.
