Reducing Election
Risk
Mapping Processes
to reduce Election Risks
Elections
are events which most of us take for granted and our involvement
lasts only a few moments when we add a cross to a ballot paper.
There is, however, a continuous cycle of work going on in the
background such as the annual canvass of electors, the requests
for postal ballots and the changes in electoral law, particularly
in Scotland and Wales. When an election is announced, it is the
start of a project which has to be correct in every detail and
where late completion is not an option.
Chief Executives
have personal responsibility for the election process, but often
do not have hands-on experience of the day to day management of
the project. This is the responsibility of the Elections Officer
who manages the whole process, with the aid of perhaps two or
three permanent staff supplemented by small armies of temporary
or casual staff at peak periods in the project.
The actual
operation of the election project is often a mystery to everyone
but the Election Officer and his team. The training and induction
process for the various groups of casual labour that supplement
the election team as the electoral year progresses is a time-consuming
task. Processes have been hitherto communicated by word of mouth
or in writing, but by mapping the processes, particularly the
decision points in the process, those involved can see at a glance
the structure of the operation.
Managing elections
is a high risk activity for Chief Executives, because errors in
the process are exposed all too readily by the media. A solution
is to extend accreditation structure to cover the election process,
and detail the processes, sharing them with those involved to
reduce risks and increase certainty.
Mapping processes
reduces risks by identifying the staff and activities, particularly
those induction and training processes which need to be applied
to the numerous temporary staff over a short period of time.
One County
Council used process mapping to develop and improve the quality
and resilience of its election services. The project was prompted
by a need to reduce risks by documenting the processes involved.
Project plans had been used but were limited in their scope.
The process
mapping exercise was completed over a period of three months,
culminating in some 54 maps being transferred to the internal
web of the county council, thus allowing access by authorised
staff across the authority. From this point on, the maps could
be refined and references added to any point in the process to
ensure that staff had an understanding of the activity and access
to associated information at their fingertips.
Now achieved,
the process maps will be available for all future elections. New
regulations or changes in legislation affecting the election process
can be readily and quickly added to the process map and made available
across the web to all relevant staff. So whenever an election
is called, the County Council has its processes in place to make
the procedure as straightforward and risk free as possible.
The mapping
process is a valuable tool which can be used effectively to identify
those election functions which can be undertaken well before the
election period begins, such as the identification of polling
stations, availability of staff and the appointment of contractors.
This is particularly helpful to electoral practitioners by instilling
a discipline ensuring that all preparatory work is completed well
before an election is announced, or even before press speculation
begins to hint at the possibility of an election.
A snap election
has not been called for more than twenty years, but with the aid
of process maps, Returning Officers will be secure in the knowledge
that all possible preparatory work has been completed, and electoral
administrators in a position of readiness in the event of an early
election.
The election
process lends itself to process mapping. General, Local, European
and now Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament elections, are
all similar but each is operated in a slightly different way.
The core processes remain the same but differences occur with
the ballot paper and counting processes, particularly where proportional
representation is concerned.
It is frequently
acknowledged that the practical application of election management
and electoral registration is not uniform throughout the country.
Process mapping can help to ensure that local authorities throughout
the UK adopt uniform procedures. This can only be to the benefit
of Returning Officers, electoral administrators and electors alike.
For further information telephone 01352 750300 or
Complete the contact
page.
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