Impact of facilities layout methods on in-person elections: a theoretical exploration

Abstract

ABSTRACT Motivated by the trend in literature that explores the effects of facilities layout planning in service systems, this work aims to observe the impact of layout and path directionality on voting system performance. A two-step voting system is considered, and a 1,000 sqft room is modelled under various layout and path directionality conditions. Discrete event simulation is used for a computational simulation analysis using the Bonferroni Approach to Multiple Comparisons to determine differences in average voter travel distance and average voter time-in-system. The results indicate that layout method and path directionality significantly affect average voter travel distance, with the perimeter layout with a unidirectional path being the most efficient. For the average time-in-system, the layout affected some turnout levels and between some layout methods; however, path directionality had no significant effect. Similar to average travel distance, the perimeter layout generally resulted in the most efficient time-in-system. This work exemplifies the critical role that layout plays in the performance of elections and presents valuable insight into how layout can be utilised to design more efficient election systems.