Site MenuReport on the Evaluations of the 40th General Election of October 14, 2008
3. Administration of the Election
3.1 Voter Registration
As in past elections, Elections Canada produced preliminary lists of electors at the start of the election period, drawing on information in the National Register of Electors ("the Register"). Elections Canada estimates that 93 percent of eligible electors were on the preliminary lists and that 84 percent of eligible electors were registered at their current address. These estimates exceed our targets of 92 and 80 percent respectively, and are consistent with estimates produced for the 39th general election.
According to our survey data, almost 9 in 10 electors received a voter information card that confirmed that they were registered for the election. Even among young and Aboriginal Canadians, a majority received the card (69 and 75 percent respectively). Virtually all those who reported receiving a voter information card said that the name and address information was accurate (97 percent for name, 98 percent for address). There were no significant variations in the degree of accuracy of voter information cards by region, gender, age, education or household income.
Notwithstanding the accuracy of the preliminary lists of electors, and the corresponding accuracy of information on the voter information card, about one in nine (11 percent) candidates expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the voter lists provided to them by their returning officer, and a further 10 percent of surveyed candidates were unsure or provided no response. Elections Canada therefore looks forward to engaging these stakeholders in a dialogue to better understand their concerns about the quality of voter lists.
As far as the role of the voter information card in triggering electors to initiate a revision activity, results are modest. Survey data indicate that just under one third (30 percent) of those who received a card and found errors in it did something to correct the inaccuracies.
Among those who did not receive a voter information card, about half reported taking a variety of actions to find out if they were registered to vote. These included seeking clarification at the polling station or the local Elections Canada office (15 percent) and calling the 1-800 number provided by Elections Canada (8 percent). Still fewer consulted the Elections Canada Web site (4 percent) or informed a revising agent (4 percent). Results are similar among youth and immigrant/visible minorities, for whom 46 and 56 percent respectively did nothing to follow up. As compared to the general population and other subgroups, a slightly higher proportion of Aboriginal Canadians indicate that they did nothing to follow up (61 percent).
Taking action when an elector did not receive a voter information card is also strongly linked to self-reported voting behaviour. Among those voting in 2008, only 17 percent reported that they did nothing, compared with 74 percent among those who reported not voting.
The relationship of confirmation of registration, as evidenced by receipt of a voter information card, and subsequent elector behaviour is complex and will require further research into the factors, such as registration, that may influence electors' voting behaviour.
During the election and as part of the revision process, Elections Canada offices conduct targeted revision initiatives, especially in new residential developments, areas known for high population mobility, student neighbourhoods, nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Starting in the second week of the election period, pairs of revising agents visited some 1.2 million targeted addresses (10 percent of residential addresses in the country).
Voter registration statistics show that there is a decreasing trend in the number of electors not on the list at their current address who get registered during the revision period in advance of polling day. In the 37th general election, for example, about 1.8 million registrations were captured during the revision period. The table below shows that, by the 40th general election, this number had fallen considerably.
| Election | Registrations |
|---|---|
| November 2000 | 1,792,151 |
| June 2004 | 934,827 |
| January 2006 | 841,764 |
| October 2008 | 561,515 |
In contrast, the following figure shows that our targeted revision efforts were more successful in the 40th general election.
Revisions by Type
This has prompted Elections Canada to study its revision program more closely. It is also in keeping with the 2005 Report of the Auditor General, which recommended that we assess the cost-effectiveness of our revision activities.
The decline in registrations during revision reflects improvement in the overall quality of the data in the Register. It is possible, however, that recent changes to the Canada Elections Act may be contributing to both this trend and the increased success of targeted revision.
Revisal desks
During the general election, returning officers from five Vancouver electoral districts set up revisal desks in large downtown shopping malls as an alternative to door-to-door targeted revision. This was the first time that registration desks could serve electors from multiple electoral districts. The data gathered during this initiative show that these desks proved at least as productive, in terms of registration take-up rate, as door-to-door targeted revision usually is in British Columbia. However, because of the statutory requirement that there be a pair of revising agents on-site for each electoral district represented, this method proved less cost efficient than traditional door-to-door canvassing. While we do not plan to expand the use of revisal desks, we believe they remain a worthwhile alternative in areas where door-to-door targeted revision is ineffective.
As intended, the Act now makes it easier for voters to register at their door during targeted revision. When visited at home, a single respondent can register other electors by swearing an oath of eligibility without showing those electors' identification documents. This practice has enabled more electors to get on the voter lists through targeted revision.
However, the new voter identification requirements may contribute to reducing the importance of being on the voter list in advance of election day, because voters have to show identification and proof of address regardless of whether they are registered to vote. This may be prompting electors who would have otherwise initiated a registration transaction themselves to "save" it until voting day. Similarly, electors would also have less incentive to correct a mistake on a voter information card, or to ask the returning officer for a registration form if a card is not received. On this point, however, we lack sufficient data to reach definite conclusions, and will study this phenomenon further in future electoral events.
We also note that of the almost 14 million Canadians who voted in the 40th general election, the vast majority had their name on the voters' list produced from the Register when they cast their ballots on polling day. Despite sustained improvements in the accuracy of Register data, a small percentage of voters (6.1 percent) casting ballots registered on polling day. This percentage has remained just above 6 percent for the past three general elections, and contrasts with the 2000 election, when almost 9 percent registered on polling day. This trend suggests that the current voter registration regime, in place since 1997, has reached maturity as far as polling day registration is concerned.
These findings invite reflection about our revision program, as might the e-registration process that we are developing to facilitate elector-initiated activities. Similarly, we will be assessing whether the voter information card could be used as proof of address, when accompanied by another document to prove identity. If this becomes the case, it may increase the motivation for electors to register in advance of election day.
3.2 Voting Operations
Elections Canada must recruit, train and monitor the work of a small army of poll workers (almost 200,000 in the 40th general election), to ensure that electors across the country enjoy a high standard of service when they go to the polls and vote. As noted earlier in this report, the great majority of electors were satisfied with their voting experience at the 40th general election. However, there were instances of inconsistent application of the voter identification rules by poll workers. That these occurred despite our best efforts points to a growing concern we have about our ability to ensure uniform service across the country while working within the constraints, set by the Act, on operating poll sites.
The Act not only specifies in detail the voting process and the roles and responsibilities of each type of poll worker, it stipulates that, before hiring their workers, returning officers must first contact the candidates representing political parties that placed first or second in the previous election and obtain from them lists of suitable persons for the positions of deputy returning officer (section 34 of the Act), poll clerk (section 35) and registration officer (section 39). Section 36 of the Act prohibits returning officers from filling the positions with individuals not named on these lists until 17 days before election day. As indicated in our first report on the 40th general election, these provisions limit Elections Canada's ability to recruit and train workers.
Few candidates provide enough names of potential workers to returning officers: the proportion of poll workers identified by candidates fell from 42 percent in the 39th general election to 33 percent in the 40th. The figure was only 3 percent in British Columbia and only 2 percent in Alberta. This shortfall is turning recruitment into a major business function within returning offices, one that has to be executed within a very tight time frame.
Concurrently, Elections Canada must recruit more workers at each election as the number of polling stations increases to accommodate the growth of the electorate and as the voting process becomes more complex.
Service to electors
Elections Canada has implemented administrative changes in successive elections to ensure that electors receive a uniformly high level of service when they vote. These include:
- adding a recruitment officer to each local office to assist in recruiting enough workers;
- adding a dedicated training officer in each local office, and continuously upgrading training materials to incorporate modern experiential learning principles;
- adding positions in polls to assist with the implementation of the voter identification regime; and
- using the best and most experienced workers as central poll supervisors, so that there is an added layer of quality assurance on call during polling day to compensate for the inexperience of newly appointed workers, and to address exceptional matters.
Despite these initiatives, it is clear that we are reaching the limits of the voting operations model defined by the current legislation.
Post-mortems we conducted with field management (returning officers and field liaison officers) confirmed that they face enormous challenges:
- Recruiting enough workers to staff all their polling stations: In each election, returning officers request a greater number of derogations (authority to hire workers from outside the electoral district or who are less than 18 years old).
- Training all their workers in the limited time available after they are allowed to start recruiting: The tasks associated with poll work have become increasingly demanding. In the voting operations model currently defined in the Act, poll workers are generalists, and they must master numerous complex tasks. Not only is the time currently allocated for training too short (according to four out of five returning officers), the training itself has become sufficiently detailed to dissuade individuals from working for us. We hear increasing reports of workers quitting after the training.
The complexity of the job is only one disincentive that returning officers must overcome. To match the job requirements, returning officers believe that a comprehensive review of the Tariff of Fees is required. The wages paid to election workers are often not competitive or comparable to salaries paid to workers in the private sector. This is especially true in areas where labour markets are tight. Further, the rates of pay offered by some provincial electoral agencies are higher than federal rates, adding to the difficulties in recruitment. Returning officers are dissatisfied with the pay scales currently established under the Tariff and strongly recommend a review of all positions required for an election, their relevance and an adjustment of pay rates. Returning officers feel the rates must be competitive to attract qualified individuals.
However, as a result of the recent enactment of the Expenditure Restraint Act, we may be unable to pursue these changes until fiscal year 2011–12. Moreover, the 1.5 percent increase authorized under the Act for 2009–10 is below the increase in the Consumer Price Index that had been built into the tariff for this year, but that has been superseded by the Act. These constraints on the remuneration of election workers will limit our ability to resolve recruitment challenges for election workers.
At the start of the 40th general election, Elections Canada identified field staffing as a critical risk. As election day approached, we reviewed the progress returning officers were making in recruiting, training and assigning workers to polling stations daily. Just days before polling day, we drew up a watch‑list of some 12 electoral districts, located mostly in the downtown areas of Montréal, Vancouver and Toronto, that faced severe understaffing issues. We implemented various initiatives to assist these returning officers, such as issuing public service announcements, running ads, allowing for the recruitment of 16‑ and 17-year-old workers, and looking at regional swapping of resources. These sustained, last-minute efforts ensured that services to electors were not compromised.
However, situations like these are an increasing concern and signal that it is time to explore alternative models for voting operations, some of which are currently in use in provincial jurisdictions, to make more optimal use of available resources and ensure a consistently high-quality voting experience for electors. New Brunswick's 2008 municipal election provides an instructive example. There, teams of election officers at a given polling site could provide services to any voter, regardless of the polling station to which the voter was assigned within the site. Dedicated officers struck electors' names from the voter lists and gave each elector a ticket for a ballot. Voters could then vote at any polling station within the site. This provided better service to electors and addressed some of the challenges involved in training workers for increasingly complex tasks.
We see many benefits in exploring a similar approach at the federal level. It would make the process less labour intensive; it would also simplify tasks (and consequently the training) of poll workers, and provide flexibility to rotate or replace poll workers during breaks and meals. It would also allow us to improve services to electors and may reduce wait times. Such flexibility is simply not available to us under the current legislation.
As noted in the report on the 40th general election, we are exploring several options to increase flexibility:
- providing more freedom to allocate work at polling stations and in the tasks that can be assigned to various workers;
- allowing returning officers to begin the recruitment and training of election workers earlier in the election period; and
- further encouraging the hiring of 16- and 17-year-olds for specific positions, such as information officers – recruitment of young Canadians might also further encourage them to participate in future elections.
We plan to address this matter further in our recommendations report.
3.3 Future Services: E-registration and E-voting
In the fall of 2007, after a comprehensive review of our internal and external environment, Elections Canada completed its Strategic Plan 2008–2013. A key aspect of the plan is a commitment to increasing the accessibility of the electoral process by testing innovative ways to vote and offering electors additional ways to register. Our survey of electors therefore included a number of questions related to Internet registration and voting. Candidates were also canvassed on their views about using the Internet to access an Elections Canada Web site to register, make corrections to their voter information, and to vote.
Elector Interest in Using the Internet for Registration
Elector Interest in Using the Internet to Vote
A majority of elector respondents said that they would be likely to access an Elections Canada Web site to register or make corrections to their voter information if they could. Similarly, most would be likely to vote on-line. Interest levels in on-line registration and voting are stable compared to 2006 (61 and 55 percent respectively).
Almost 70 percent of youth indicated a likelihood to use the Internet to register or make corrections, and were among the most interested in voting on-line (69 percent). For all groups of electors, interest in using an on-line tool increases with the level of education and generally with household income.
Non-voters among the public, youth and Aboriginal Canadians (55, 64 and 41 percent respectively) report that they would be likely to use the Internet to register to vote if this service were available. Similarly, half of those who did not cast a ballot reported that they would be "very" likely to vote on-line, including 55 and 39 percent among youth and Aboriginal non-voters, respectively.
Special Voting Rules
Under the Special Voting Rules (Part 11 of the Act), any elector who cannot or does not wish to vote at a polling station during an election may vote using a special ballot. With a special ballot, an elector can vote by mail or in person at any local Elections Canada office. If an elector residing in Canada is away from his or her electoral district, either inside or outside Canada, he or she can also register to vote with Elections Canada in Ottawa. Special Voting Rules also apply to other categories of electors, such as those temporarily residing outside Canada and Canadian Forces electors. For many electors, voting by special ballot is the only practical way to exercise their franchise.
Voting by mail entails paper-based transactions between the elector and Elections Canada for the purpose of registering, issuing a ballot and returning it in time to be counted. This three-step process is conducted within tight legislative deadlines (usually, a 36-day calendar).
The short election calendar and the limitations of postal service can hinder the ability of many electors to meet these deadlines, most particularly when voting from outside Canada. During the last general election, of the 50,205 voting kits sent to electors voting outside their electoral district in Canada and abroad, Elections Canada received 3,675 within the two weeks after election day, too late to be counted.
This an area where we believe electors would benefit from on-line services.
A large majority of candidates (75 percent) stated that electors should be able to register on-line; 20 percent did not agree. Candidates were split on on-line voting, as illustrated in the following chart.
Candidates' Perspective: Should Electors Be Able to Vote Online?
No response/
don't know
The survey indicates that most Canadians are interested in on-line registration and voting. The prospect of using an Elections Canada Web site to register or make corrections to their voter information, or to vote, is especially appealing to youth. Though candidates share Canadians' interest in on-line registration, many expressed doubts about on-line voting.
In view of the number of Canadians who are interested in accessing electoral services on-line, our efforts to put e-registration in place and to test e-voting are well aligned to their needs. At the same time, we are aware that many Canadians, and candidates in particular, are still uncertain about electoral services over the Internet, especially when it comes to on-line voting. We will continue our consultations as we move forward with these services, and will ensure that future voter services meet the high standards of integrity and security that Canadians have come to expect from their electoral processes. We will also return to Parliament with recommendations for legislative change that would allow us to fully implement on-line registration.
Conclusion
Elections Canada's efforts to administer the provisions of the Canada Elections Act in a manner that ensured the accessibility and integrity of the electoral process during the 40th general election were successful on most fronts. The new voter identification requirements were effectively communicated to the vast majority of electors, and almost all electors came to the polls prepared to satisfy those requirements. Candidates expressed high levels of satisfaction in our services and in their interactions with their returning officer.
The general success of the 40th general election tends to overshadow some trends that merit attention. The complexity of the political financing rules set out in the Act affects candidates and political parties, and it is our view that these rules have become sufficiently burdensome to warrant a review aimed at simplifying them and making compliance with them easier for political entities and their representatives. Furthermore, the Act imposes restrictions on Elections Canada's ability to organize and administer the election in a businesslike manner that maintains the high standards of integrity, security and service that Canadians have come to expect in their electoral processes. It is our view that this aspect of the Act also warrants review and simplification.
To address these issues, Elections Canada will bring forward recommendations for legislative amendments in its next report to Parliament. In preparing that report, we will be seeking the input and advice of registered political parties in these areas and others that may require legislative change through the Advisory Committee of Political Parties.
Delivering a general election is a massive undertaking taking place under very prescriptive rules. It calls on Elections Canada to reach out to over 23 million electors and provide them with an opportunity to cast their ballot to elect their members of Parliament. This is a process that is accomplished mostly through direct interaction with all electors. Overall, while this report suggests that these interactions were for the most part professional and effective, it also points to areas for future improvement. Elections Canada is committed to work collaboratively with parliamentarians, political parties, candidates, electors and their representatives to improve the electoral process and continue ensuring that elections are administered in a fair, efficient, transparent and trustworthy fashion.