Monitoring of Performance
Voting station officials' performance of their duties needs to be actively monitored throughout voting day by the voting station manager, assisted by any other supervisory staff available. This will mean undertaking regular checks and close observation of staff in all areas of the voting station, to ensure that high standards are being maintained at all times, and to provide early warning of any impending difficulties. Voting station managers cannot effectively manage by sitting at a desk and waiting for problems to be brought to them.
Activities that are important to monitor include:
- free passage through entrances and exits;
- voter queues controlled in an orderly and effective manner;
- fraud and multiple voting prevention controls--such as (where required by procedures) identity checks, collection or stamping of identity or other documents, marking of voters with ink, taking statements or declarations from voters--correctly applied to all voters (see Determination of Eligibility to Vote and Integrity Controls);
- voters lists correctly and accurately marked;
- ballots issued correctly, with clear, impartial instructions being provided to voters on how to vote in a valid manner (see Issue and Casting of Ballots);
- security measures on ballot and other election materials consistently implemented;
- ballot boxes or equipment for recording votes constantly kept under alert supervision;
- voting station officials treatment of and communications with voters not perceived as showing bias toward any political participant, or discrimination against any individual or classes of voters on gender, nationality, religious, or other grounds;
- voting compartments occupied by one person at a time (unless allowable assistance is being provided) and there is no marking of ballots (or choosing of the preferred ballot) occurring outside the voting compartments (see Issue and Casting of Ballots);
- correct information provided in response to voter inquiries (see Providing Information to Voters);
- procedures for unregistered voters attempting to vote being correctly applied (see Voters Not Found on Voters Lists);
- the voting compartment area kept free of rubbish, writing equipment remaining available in all voting compartments (if card or paper ballots are used), and any spoilt, discarded, or declined ballots collected and treated correctly (see Issue and Casting of Ballots);
- voting station officials and accredited observers wearing identification badges at all times, and unauthorised persons are not allowed inside the voting station.
Where voting station officials are not certain as to how to complete their tasks, voting station managers or other supervisory staff must be able to provide them with clear, consistent, and accurate advice.
Task Re-allocation
If monitoring shows that particular staff are making errors or are too slow in performing more demanding tasks, the voting station manager should attempt to raise overall effectiveness by re-allocating these staff to less demanding duties. The ability to do this will depend on how broad voting station official training has been. There are a number of duties, such as guarding ballot boxes, that may be suitable for less able or slower working voting station officials.
Performance Evaluation
Voting station officials are entitled to expect that, at the completion of their duties, they will be provided with an objective evaluation of their performance by the voting station manager. This would preferably be included with the voting station manager's report on voting (see Close of Voting). Undertaking a brief assessment of each staff member's performance will aid future election recruitment assessments and, hopefully, contribute to staff motivation.
