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Detailed FindingsReport on the Survey of Campus Administrators for the 43rd General Election

Experience Hosting the Voting Place on Campus

Setting up the voting place

Among the various tasks involved in setting up the voting place, respondents were asked to identify the roles they had played. The graph below describes the tasks carried out by campus administrators. Individuals were permitted to identify more than one role.

Tasks involved in setting up the voting place1

Tasks involved in setting up the voting place

Text description of "Tasks involved in setting up the voting place"

The above chart depicts results from Q3 and Q4 combined. Q3 accepted multiple responses, and Q4 was open-ended. Verbatim responses from Q4 were recoded into themes, where applicable.

  • Q3. There are various tasks involved in organizing a voting place on campus. What role(s) did you play to help run the voting place? Base: n=43; all respondents.
  • Q4. What other role(s) or task(s), if any, did you take on to help run the voting place? Base: n=43; all respondents.

The horizontal bar chart above displays the tasks completed by respondents in setting up the voting place. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Total
    • Liaised with the returning officer (phone and/or in person): 40
    • Made sure the space met EC's requirements: 37
    • Provided the necessary equipment (chairs, tables, etc.): 32
    • Secured lease agreement(s): 30
    • Promoted voting on campus: 21
    • Helped recruit staff: 9
    • On-campus stakeholder engagement: 6
    • Security: 2
    • Other logistics: 12

The most frequently selected task involved in setting up the voting place was communicating with a returning officer (40). There was also a focus on the logistical aspects of setting up the voting place, such as ensuring that the physical space met Elections Canada's requirements (37), securing lease agreements (30) and providing the necessary equipment (32). Less attention was placed on promoting voting on campus (21) and recruiting staff (9).

Satisfaction with Elections Canada contact

The majority of campus administrators indicated being satisfied with their experience with Elections Canada staff with regard to frequency of contact, politeness and responsiveness to their needs.

Satisfaction with setting up the voting place on campus, in terms of:2

Satisfaction with setting up the voting place on campus, in terms of

Text description of "Satisfaction with setting up the voting place on campus, in terms of"

Q9. When thinking about your experience setting up the voting place on campus, how satisfied are you with: 1) the frequency of contact that you had with Elections Canada staff? / 2) the politeness of the Elections Canada staff you were in contact with? / 3) The responsiveness of Elections Canada to your needs? Base: n=43; all respondents.

The above horizontal bar chart displays how satisfied respondents were with their experience with Elections Canada staff, in regards to: frequency of contact, politeness of staff, and responsiveness of staff to their needs. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Total
    • Responsiveness of Elections Canada:
      • Very satisfied: 24
      • Somewhat satisfied: 13
      • Somewhat dissatisfied: 2
      • Very dissatisfied: 1
    • Politeness of Elections Canada staff:
      • Very satisfied: 25
      • Somewhat satisfied 12
      • Somewhat dissatisfied: 3
      • Very dissatisfied: 2
    • Frequency of contact with Elections Canada:
      • Very satisfied: 35
      • Somewhat satisfied: 5
      • Somewhat dissatisfied: 1
      • Very dissatisfied: 1

Among the three areas of contact with Elections Canada, campus administrators most frequently indicated being satisfied (40) when referring to the frequency of contact, with 35 respondents being very satisfied and five respondents being somewhat satisfied. This compares with 37 respondents who were satisfied with the responsiveness of Elections Canada to their needs and 37 respondents who were satisfied with the politeness of Elections Canada staff.

Overall satisfaction with hosting a voting place on campus3

In general, campus administrators were satisfied with their experience of hosting a voting place on campus. Nearly all respondents (40) indicated that they were either somewhat or very satisfied with their experience. Only three respondents indicated that they were somewhat dissatisfied with their experience.

Overall satisfaction with hosting a voting place on campus

Text description of "Overall satisfaction with hosting a voting place on campus"

Q10. Overall, how satisfied were you with your experience of helping to host a voting place on campus? Base: n=43; all respondents.

The horizontal bar chart above displays how satisfied respondents were with their experience of helping host a voting place on campus. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Total
    • Very satisfied: 27
    • Somewhat satisfied: 13
    • Satisfied: 40
    • Somewhat dissatisfied: 3
    • Very dissatisfied: 0
    • Dissatisfied: 3

Challenges Encountered

Ease or difficulty of setting up the voting place4

Overall, the majority of campus administrators (31) found it easy to set up the voting place on campus: 11 indicated that they found it very easy, and 20 indicated that it was somewhat easy.

A total of 11 respondents indicated that they found it difficult to set up the voting place on campus, while eight found it somewhat difficult, and three found it very difficult.

Ease or difficulty of setting up the voting place

Text description of "Ease or difficulty of setting up the voting place"

Q5. Overall, how easy or difficult was it to set up the voting place on campus? Base: n=43; all respondents.

The horizontal bar chart above displays how easy it was for respondents to set up the voting place on campus. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Total
  • Very easy: 11
  • Somewhat easy: 20
  • Easy: 31
  • Somewhat difficult: 8
  • Very difficult: 3
  • Difficult: 11

Difficulties encountered setting up the voting place

A total of 11 campus administrators indicated that they had experienced difficulties setting up the voting place.5

Difficulties encountered setting up the voting place Frequency
Securing lease agreement(s) 4
Finding a suitable place that met Elections Canada's requirements 3
Communications issues 3
Lack of awareness 2
Long process, with too many disruptions 1
Delivering and picking up technological equipment from Canada Post 1

The two types of difficulties most frequently identified were securing a lease agreement (4) and finding a location to host the voting place that met Elections Canada's requirements (3).

The table above includes new categories that emerged when campus administrators gave verbal responses. Two of these categories were communications issues (3) and lack of awareness (2).

Communications issues included:

  • Liaising with the returning officer by phone and/or in person
  • Receiving guidance from Elections Canada in a timely manner
  • Having difficulties communicating with post-secondary staff about Internet connectivity and difficulties understanding what was needed

Lack of awareness included:

  • Being unaware of the need to promote voting on campus until a few days before opening the voting place
  • Being unaware of the need to recruit student staff until a few days before opening the voting place

First contact by Elections Canada and satisfaction with preparation time

Overall, campus administrators were contacted by Elections Canada staff at least one year before the 2019 general election.

The majority of campus administrators (32) were contacted in 2018 by a staff member at Elections Canada about hosting a voting place on campus for 2019. Of those who were contacted, Elections Canada mostly reached out to campus administrators in the spring of 2018. Of the campus administrators who were first contacted by Elections Canada in 2019, only two were contacted in the summer of 2019 before the general election.

Initial contact by Elections Canada6

Initial contact by Elections Canada

Text description of "Initial contact by Elections Canada"

Q7. Approximately when were you first contacted by someone at Elections Canada about hosting a voting place? Base: n=43; all respondents.

The vertical bar chart above displays when campus administrators were first contacted by someone at Elections Canada about hosting a voting place on campus. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Total
    • 2018
      • Winter: 5
      • Spring: 13
      • Summer: 4
      • Fall: 10
      • Total respondents first contacted in 2018: 32
    • 2019
      • Winter: 4
      • Spring: 2
      • Summer: 2
      • Total respondents first contacted in 2019: 8

When thinking about the timing of their first contact from Elections Canada, virtually all campus administrators (40) indicated that they had had enough time to properly set up the voting place on campus.7

Reflections on Hosting the Voting Place on Campus

Likelihood of hosting a voting place on campus for future general elections8

If given the opportunity, all respondents (43) indicated that they would be likely to host a campus voting place in future federal elections, with 37 respondents being very likely and six respondents being somewhat likely.

Importance of having a voting place available for students on campus9

When asked about the importance of having a voting place available to students on campus, all (43) campus administrators indicated that this was either very (38) or somewhat (5) important.

Footnotes

Footnote 1 This chart depicts results from Q3 and Q4 combined. Q3 accepted multiple responses, and Q4 was open-ended. Verbatim responses from Q4 were recoded into themes, where applicable.

Q3. There are various tasks involved in organizing a voting place on campus. What role(s) did you play to help run the voting place? Base: n = 43: all respondents.

Q4. What other role(s) or task(s), if any, did you take on to help run the voting place? Base: n = 43: all respondents.

Footnote 2 Q9. When thinking about your experience setting up the voting place on campus, how satisfied are you with... Base: n = 43: all respondents.

1. The frequency of contact that you had with Elections Canada staff?

2. The politeness of the Elections Canada staff you were in contact with?

3. The responsiveness of Elections Canada to your needs?

Footnote 3 Q10. Overall, how satisfied were you with your experience of helping to host a voting place on campus?
Base: n = 43: all respondents.

Footnote 4 Q5. Overall, how easy or difficult was it to set up the voting place on campus? Base: n = 43: all respondents.

Footnote 5 Q6. What was difficult about setting up the voting place? Base: n = 11: all respondents who indicated experiencing difficulty setting up the voting place. Multiple responses accepted. The table above combines the results from the list of responses provided in Q6 in addition to recoded verbatim responses provided by respondents in the "Other" category.

Footnote 6 Q7. Approximately when were you first contacted by someone at Elections Canada about hosting a voting place? Base: n = 43: all respondents.

Footnote 7 In your opinion, did being contacted in <<Q7.text>> give you enough time to properly set up the voting place on campus? Base: n = 40: respondents who selected a response in Q7 aside from "DK/Other".

Footnote 8 Q11. If given the opportunity, how likely would you be to host a campus voting place in future federal elections? Base: n = 43: all respondents.

Footnote 9 Q15. In your opinion, how important is it to have a voting place available to students on campus? Base: n = 43: all respondents.