Clear vote counting procedures, careful planning, thorough training, good facilities, and appropriate equipment are essential administrative considerations. As vote counting is the final step in the election process, it is often given a lower priority than it deserves. Considering its importance in ensuring confidence in the result of an election, it is critical to give vote counting high administrative priority to ensure success.
What is administratively expedient can vary greatly between countries. Here are some generic truisms regarding the administrative implications of choices in vote counting procedures:
- The simpler the system, the easier to organize and administer the vote counting.
- The greater the use of existing infrastructure, the simpler to administer and at a lower cost.
- The more permanence and continuity between elections, the more routine and professional the conduct of vote counting will become.
A complicated vote counting formula or system will have administrative implications in terms of increased training needs, need for additional personnel, longer hours, and even additional venues for counting. Use of polling staff for counting is generally positive from an administrative point of view, as it can simplify recruitment, training, and payment.
Infrastructure Requirements
Planning for vote counting procedures needs to take into account the infrastructure, including facilities for transporting essential items and communicating results. Premises used for vote counting need to be secure and suitable for their purpose. Plans should include the care and treatment of personnel, such as the provision of food and water, as well as suitable lighting and temperature. This is especially important when the count is conducted by polling station officials who have worked hard all day taking votes, or when heavy volume calls for the count in a counting centre to continue for many hours.
Personnel and Training Requirements
The effectiveness of any vote count process depends upon the counting staff. Sufficient staff should be employed to efficiently complete the count, and every staff member should be appropriately trained. It is extremely important that the counting staff not be too tired when the count begins. If polling staff conduct the count, they will need rest breaks during the day. The counting staff's remuneration and training should be an important part of the election's budget.
At the Management Level
At the management level, it is desirable to have a permanent electoral management body with sound skills. Professional, knowledgeable, experienced, and neutral staff will contribute to the success of an election, and will provide benefits in all areas of electoral management, including vote counting and publicizing results.
Generally, the electoral management body will be responsible for developing training materials and procedures. These should build on the best examples of local and international experience. If possible, it is desirable to test them in small-scale activities (such as partial elections or simulations) before holding a national election or referendum.
At the Local Level
Usually, local electoral management staff are employed only when an electoral event is called. Some countries have permanent local election officials who have other duties, such as maintaining the register of voters.
Where local election officials and support staff are employed for each electoral event, it is desirable to recruit these staff well before the event is called, and provide them with comprehensive training on counting procedures and other aspects of the election or referendum. It may be appropriate to pay these staff for attending training sessions and related costs (such as travel, accommodation and food).
It is usual to provide local election officials and other senior management officials with a reference guide explaining all aspects of the administration of the electoral process. This could include procedures for opening and closing a local office; guidelines on hiring local staff, including job descriptions, minimal qualifications and desired skills; and the protocol for dealing with candidates and representatives of political parties.
Detailed procedures for vote counting and reporting results should be specified well in advance, so that proper preparations can be made. The importance of the final count, and the necessity of careful record-keeping in order to provide fully accurate official results, should be emphasized.
The level of responsibility given to local election officials will vary from place to place. Often, local election officials are responsible for recruiting and training the local staff needed for conducting the election. Ideally, these staff should be identified and recruited well in advance of the election. Other administrative staff may be needed to perform the many tasks associated with running an election, such as dealing with public inquiries, and ordering, storing, and distributing electoral materials.
Recruitment and training of all the poll workers needed for election day (and for vote counting after election day, if necessary) should be done as soon as possible after the election is called. As a contingency measure, more poll workers than are necessary can be selected and trained, in order to have personnel available, in the event some workers cannot fulfil their duties on election day. A stand-by fee could be given to such substitute personnel if they are not required to work.
Recruitment Criteria
Men and women should be recruited on an equal basis, according to their ability to carry out the duties required in an unbiased and professional manner. Some jurisdictions require that poll workers be qualified voters and/or live within the same electoral district where they will be working on election day. These criteria should be publicized and known to all candidates and political parties involved, to preserve the transparency of the process.
The electoral laws may restrict who can be recruited as a poll worker. In some jurisdictions, poll workers are nominated by political parties in proportion to the number of votes or seats won at the previous election. The parties draw up lists and refer the names of acceptable personnel to the responsible local election official. Workers who are nominated by a political party, but appointed by the local electoral management body, must agree to carry out all their duties in a neutral and non-partisan manner.
Local customs and circumstances will decide the desirability of involving political parties in the appointment of poll officials. Where a population is highly politicized, and most likely candidates for employment can be expected to hold a strong political allegiance, this practice may be desirable to ensure that there are checks and balances built into the process. The poll official recommended by one political party can be watched by the poll clerk recommended by the opposing political party, and vice versa. The poll workers generally understand the importance of being non-partisan, once they are appointed by the local electoral management body, especially if they have been required to take an oath assuring their neutrality. On the other hand, it might be difficult for these poll workers to be completely neutral and non-partisan if they are unable to take sufficient emotional distance from the political issues.
Where a population is less politicized, and sufficient employees can be found who do not have a strong political allegiance, it may be desirable to employ poll staff who can be expected to be neutral. In some countries, persons who are seen to be politically active are not permitted to work as poll officials.
Regardless of whether or not political parties become actively involved in the recruitment process of the poll workers, they should still appoint representatives of the political party/monitors/observers at the polling station, if provided by law. Accreditation provided in advance by the electoral management body is common practice.
People recruited as poll workers should be suitably qualified, able to attend training, and work long hours on election day. They should be literate, numerate, and able to communicate well verbally. In places where several languages are spoken, it is important to recruit staff with appropriate language skills. Senior students, civil servants, teachers, health workers, and retired people are often recruited as poll workers because they satisfy these requirements.
Appointment of civil servants as poll workers can raise questions about the non-partisanship of such poll workers, depending on the professional reputation of the public service, and whether positions are filled on merit or on the basis of partisanship. Even if well-qualified civil servants are recruited, they will still need training in counting procedures and other aspects of their duties in the electoral process.
Training Requirements
The level of training provided to poll workers will vary according to local conditions and the seniority of the polling officials. Local election officials, officers in charge of polling stations and counting centres, and other senior officers usually receive more detailed training than more junior officials.
Senior officials should be trained well before polling day. Ideally, junior officials should be trained before polling day, with a briefing session on polling day, before polling starts.
Where polling station officials conduct counting, training for the count will take place in conjunction with training for polling. The type of training will depend on the available budget and the ease with which staff can be given face-to-face training. A typical training program for senior officials will include face-to-face training conducted by a qualified instructor, audio-visual training aides (if available), training manuals, and simulation exercises. In some cases, poll workers will receive training manuals to read and sample exercises to complete at home before attending training. More junior officials can be trained in a similar manner, or trained by their supervisors after the supervisors have been appropriately trained.
Locations for face-to-face training should be carefully chosen and equipped. Suitable equipment will include chairs and tables, and, as appropriate, equipment such as white boards, black boards, or overhead projectors, and video and television where available. A microphone and speakers might be needed for larger groups. All the materials used on election day (such as ballot papers, ballot boxes, seals, forms, etc.) should be available and their uses demonstrated. The locations should be large enough to accommodate the officers being trained in comfort, and large enough to set up a simulated polling site.
Conducting a counting simulation is a very effective learning tool, that helps to visualize the counting process, and pre-empt problems that may arise, by including examples of dubious ballots, and by practising filling in forms.
It is desirable to make attendance at training a mandatory condition of employment of poll workers and counting staff. In order to encourage people to attend training, it is usual to pay them an appropriate allowance or fee.
In some countries, professional trainers will be used instead of the local election officials to conduct poll and counting worker training sessions. Sometimes a small group of professional trainers will train other trainers, who will then go into the field to conduct the training directly to the poll and counting workers on behalf of the electoral management body. Salary, travel, and accommodation expenses for such trainers will need to be included in the budget.
