open Secondary menu

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

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.

Table 75: Closing of polling station, by polling station
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%).

Table 76: Closing of polling station, by type of poll
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%).

Table 77: Reasons why closing poll did not go very well or not well at all, overall, top 5
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

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.

Table 78: Usefulness of the flowchart, by polling station
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%).

Table 79: Usefulness of the flowchart, by type of poll
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