Survey of Election Officers Following the 42nd Federal General Election
10. Closing the Polling Station
This section presents findings related to election officers' experiences closing the polling station, and the usefulness of the flowchart provided to help close the polling stations.
Closing the Polling Station
Overall, eighty-four percent (TOP2: 84%) of election officers found that closing the polling station went very or fairly well. From a regional perspective, officers in Alberta and British Columbia (BTM2: 26%, each) were significantly more likely to find that closing the polling station went not very or not well at all.
Chart 21: Closing of polling station, by region
Text Description of "Chart 21: Closing of polling station, by region"
* Caution should be used when interpreting results due to small sample.
Base: Deputy Returning Officer, Information Officer, Central Poll Supervisor, Poll Clerk
By polling station, officers who worked at polling stations on Aboriginal reserves and at seniors' homes were significantly more likely to find that closing the polling station went very or fairly well than other polling station groups.
Q39: Overall, would you say that closing the polling station went...? | Polling Station | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abo. Reserve (n=254) | Sen. / LT Care (n=790) | Stud. Res. (n=405) | Other (n=1808) | Overall (n=3257) | |
% | |||||
TOP2 | 94 | 89 | 85 | 84 | 84 |
BTM2 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
Very well | 67+ | 62+ | 53 | 51 | 52 |
Fairly well | 27- | 27- | 32 | 33 | 33 |
Not very well | 5- | 7 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
Not well at all | 2- | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
DK/Refused | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Base: Deputy Returning Officer, Information Officer, Registration Officer, Poll Clerk
Across the different types of polls, officers who worked at an advance or mobile poll were significantly more likely to find that closing the polling station went very or fairly well.
There were some variances as well across the staffing positions. Information officers were significantly more likely than other positions to report that closing the polling station went very or fairly well (TOP2: 93%).
Q39: Overall, would you say that closing the polling station went...? | Type of Poll | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Advance (n=216) | Ordinary (n=2734) | Adv. + ord. (n=191) | Mobile (n=47) | Overall (n=3188) | |
% | |||||
TOP2 | 94 | 84 | 85 | 93 | 84 |
BTM2 | 6 | 16 | 13 | 7 | 15 |
Very well | 67+ | 50 | 58 | 69+ | 52 |
Fairly well | 27- | 34 | 28 | 24- | 33 |
Not very well | 4- | 10 | 4- | 5 | 9 |
Not well at all | 2- | 6 | 9 | 2- | 6 |
DK/Refused | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
* Caution should be used when interpreting results due to small sample.
Base: Deputy Returning Officer, Information Officer, Registration Officer, Poll Clerk
A quarter (24%) of the officers who indicated that closing the polling station did not go very well or not well at all (n=470) reported that closing the polling station took too long. The remaining reasons cover unclear instructions, insufficient training, disorganization, and that they received no assistance from their colleagues when closing the polling station.
These issues were common across all regions; however, officers in Saskatchewan (45%) were significantly more likely to report that the staff wasn't trained well to close the polling station.
Deputy returning officers were significantly more likely to report they received no assistance from their colleagues when closing (25%) compared with other staffing positions. Central poll supervisors were significantly more likely to report disorganization (42%) than information officers (9%) and poll clerks (12%).
By polling station, officers who worked in ordinary polls (22%) and mobile polls (16%) were significantly more likely to report there were problems with vote counting than advance poll (2%) and both advance and ordinary poll workers (1%).
Q40: Why do you say that? | Overall (n=470) |
---|---|
% | |
Took too long / too slow | 24 |
Staff wasn't trained well / not knowledgeable | 22 |
Instructions not clear (handbook, flowchart) | 21 |
Problems with vote counting | 20 |
No assistance from colleagues | 16 |
Usefulness of the Flowchart
Of the positions that were given the flowchart to close, a vast majority (TOP2: 93%) found the flowchart very or somewhat useful. Across regions, officers in Alberta and in British Columbia were significantly more likely to find the flowchart not very or not at all useful.
Chart 22: Usefulness of the flowchart, by region
Text Description of "Chart 22: Usefulness of the flowchart, by region"
*Caution should be used when interpreting results due to small sample.
Base: Deputy Returning Officer, Central Poll Supervisor, Poll Clerk
Officers who worked at a polling station on an Aboriginal reserve were significantly more likely to find the flowchart useful (TOP2: 96%) compared with other polling stations.
Q41: Would you say that the flowchart provided for closing the polling stations was (read all) in helping you wrap up the election materials? | Polling Station | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abo. Reserve (n=213) | Sen. / LT Care (n=781) | Stud. Res. (n=350) | Other (n=1619) | Overall (n=2963) | |
% | |||||
TOP2 | 96 | 89 | 90 | 93 | 93 |
BTM2 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 |
Very useful | 73+ | 58 | 57 | 59 | 59 |
Somewhat useful | 23- | 32 | 33 | 34 | 33 |
Not very useful | 3- | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
Not at all useful | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
DK/Refused | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Base: Deputy Returning Officer, Central Poll Supervisor, Poll Clerk
Compared with the overall population of election officers, respondents who worked at an advance poll were more likely to report that the flowchart was very or somewhat useful. Further, officers who worked at an ordinary (34%) or mobile (38%) poll were significantly more likely to find the flowchart "somewhat useful" than those who worked at the advance poll (26%).
Across staffing positions, deputy returning officers were significantly more likely to find the flowchart "very useful" (64%) than poll clerks (54%).
Q41: Would you say that the flowchart provided for closing the polling stations was (read all) in helping you wrap up the election materials? | Type of Poll | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Advance (n=199) | Ordinary (n=2382) | Adv. + ord. (n=141) |
Mobile
(n=45)* |
Overall (n=2767) | |
% | |||||
TOP2 | 89 | 93 | 92 | 92 | 93 |
BTM2 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Very useful | 63+ | 59 | 59 | 54 | 59 |
Somewhat useful | 26- | 34 | 33 | 38 | 33 |
Not very useful | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Not at all useful | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
DK/Refused | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
* Caution should be used when interpreting results due to small sample.
Base: Deputy Returning Officer, Central Poll Supervisor, Poll Clerk