Polling Officials: The Strength and Weakness of Democratic Systems

Abstract

The scale and logistical demands of conducting elections means that they are typically delivered by many thousands of men and women employed for very short periods of time, most no more than a single day every three, four, or five years depending upon the constitutional requirements or electoral laws of the country concerned. The inevitable fact that elections can only be delivered “through” the individual and collective efforts of large numbers of ordinary men and women drawn from the community represents a fundamental strength of democratic systems. Their involvement provides transparency, credibility, and a strong sense of participation in the process that ultimately determines who will be installed as the government of the day to make decisions affecting the lives of the country's citizens. Yet, some recent events in Australia (and elsewhere) involving significant errors made by polling officials demonstrate that the involvement of these same men and women from the community represents a challenge for electoral management bodies (EMBs), a potential weakness, with relevance not only to the efficacy of the vast logistical planning associated with the conduct of an election and the perceived integrity of the outcome, but also the design of electoral systems and legislative powers conferred upon EMBs. While much of the research and literature treats these issues independently, this article contends that the issues of polling official management, electoral system design, and the powers conferred on EMBs are very much interrelated aspects of ensuring the integrity of elections.