Basic Issues
The role of voting station officials in providing information to aid voters in their participation in the election is an important part of providing voter service; all eligible voters should be provided with the most informed opportunity to cast their voter correctly. Information should be restricted to implementation of election procedures; voting station officials should politely refrain from engaging in any discussion with voters about the merits of political participants, candidates, or the appropriateness of election policies and procedures.
(For further discussion of voter information services that may effectively be provided in voting stations, see Information at Voting Locations.)
Designated Information Officers
Consideration should be given to assigning a specific official, or officials, to voter information duties. This will generally be effective in voting stations where:
- of larger size, other officials may be fully pressed in undertaking other voter service duties;
- significant proportions of the voters expected are from minority cultural or language groups, are elderly, or are first-time voters;
- there have been significant changes in voting procedures;
- computer or machine voting has been introduced which may require taking each voter through a trial run using the computer or voting machine to ensure that they understand the operations required for voting.
Particularly in transitional environments, voting station officials with specific voter information duties may well need to undertake a broader voter education role.
Guidelines for Providing Information
General guidelines for providing information to voters in voting stations include:
- Information for voters must be provided in an open and transparent manner and must allow monitoring by party or candidate representatives and other observers in the voting station.
- All voting station officials should be ready to answer courteously and promptly any inquiries by voters about voting procedures; where the official does not know the answer, assistance from the voting station manager or other senior voting station officials should be sought.
- Except where the voters are authorised to receive assistance in marking their ballots, any information for voters should be provided before voters enter the voting compartment. If voters require further information after having commenced to mark the ballot, they should be requested to step outside the compartment (see Assistance to Voters).
- All voting station officials should pay particular attention to the needs of voters from minority language and cultural groups; employment of multi-lingual voting station officials will assist in this regard.
- voters requiring assistance to vote should be identified as soon as possible after entering the voting station and directed to the appropriate officials for assistance (see Assistance to Voters).
Proactive Methods
Information is more effectively provided, and voter service enhanced, if a proactive stance is taken by voting station officials. The use of a static voter information officer, seated behind a table, both disrupts voter flow and may well not encourage contact with those who need further information the most.
Voting station layouts may provide for a separate information table or area for storage of information pamphlets and other materials (if the voting station is of sufficient size) or store such materials on the voting station manager's table. Such a static facility is generally required for voters with complex inquiries or difficulties. However, maximum effectiveness is obtained if voters' information needs can be ascertained and satisfied while they are queued waiting to vote, through pro-active inquiry by entry control or queue control officials (see Crowd and Queue Control) and use of roving information officials.
Voting station managers and any other supervisory officials assigned to the voting station should also take an active interest in providing information to voters. The better voters are informed before they reach the eligibility checking and voting materials issuing tables, the more efficient the issuing of ballots is likely to be.
