Election Commission Officer

What a Election Commission Officer does daily

• Electoral register management — the annual update of Sri Lanka's national electoral register; which lists every eligible voter (Sri Lankan citizen; 18 years or over; resident in the constituency); the register is compiled from information provided by Divisional Secretariats; voters can apply online; the accuracy of the electoral register is the foundation of a credible election; an inaccurate register that includes ghost voters or excludes eligible voters undermines the entire democratic process
• Election planning and logistics — the enormous logistical operation of conducting a national election: identifying and confirming approximately 12,000 polling stations; recruiting and training approximately 80,000–100,000 polling officers; printing; distributing; and tracking millions of ballot papers; providing ballot boxes; managing the return of materials after polling; coordinating election day transport; the election planning function is one of the most complex logistical exercises that any public institution undertakes
• Election law and regulation — managing the legal framework for elections: administering the election campaign period rules (the 5-week campaign period; the restrictions on public property use; the prohibition on misuse of state resources for campaign purposes); receiving and investigating complaints of election law violations; the powers of the Election Commission to take action against violations during the campaign period include issuing warnings; summoning violators; and referring cases to the Attorney General for prosecution
• Polling day management — supervising the conduct of polling at approximately 12,000 polling stations across Sri Lanka; managing the Presiding Officers who run each polling station; managing the Police deployment for election security; receiving reports of irregularities; the Commission's rapid response team for election day incidents; the counting process at designated counting centres; the declaration of results
• Election result compilation and declaration — compiling results from all constituencies; managing the public announcement of preliminary results; the formal declaration of results by the Returning Officers and the Commission; managing post-election complaints; the constitutional process of declaring the election winner and initiating the transfer of power
• Postal vote and special voter management — managing the postal ballot system (which allows registered voters who cannot vote in person on polling day — public servants; security forces personnel; remand prisoners; diplomatic staff — to vote by post); the special voter procedures; ensuring that the postal ballot system is administered with integrity
• Campaign finance and election expenditure monitoring — receiving and reviewing the election expenditure returns that candidates are required to submit after an election (declaring the total amount spent on their campaign against the statutory limit); investigating suspected violations of the election expenditure limits; the campaign finance monitoring function is an important transparency and accountability check on money in politics
• Election observation — accrediting domestic election observers (civil society organisations; citizen observer groups) and international election observers (Commonwealth; EU; Carter Center; ANFREL — Asian Network for Free Elections) for elections; liaising with observer missions; receiving observer reports; the observation function supports the transparency and credibility of elections
• Voter education and civic awareness — conducting voter education programmes to ensure that the electorate understands how to vote; the importance of voting; and the rules of the election; voter education is particularly important for new voters; for communities where literacy levels are lower; and after changes to the electoral system
• Delimitation of electoral boundaries — periodically reviewing and recommending revisions to electoral boundaries and the number of seats per constituency; the delimitation function (which involves population-based boundary drawing and is politically sensitive) is a statutory function of the Election Commission