Elections and the Policy Process

GOVERNANCE Elections and the policy process David Brock lections are not typically understood as an area year. How Elections NWT prepared for and exe- for policy analysis. Students of public policy cuted the territorial general election is surveyed here. mEay be more likely to gravitate towards areas such Some may wonder if peculiar aspects of the NWT as environmental policy, energy policy, or health pol- electoral system might constrain or distort broader icy. Working in the electoral field is more classically analysis. I think not. As much as the system exhibits conceived as public administration. features not seen in most other jurisdictions (most no- However, the policy component of election man- tably, the absence of registered political parties), fun- agement also deserves attention. Conceiving election damental principles remain the same. Most management as a series of disconnected administra- importantly, the structural relationship between Elec- tive decisions underestimates the total cumulative im- tions NWT and legislators is characterized by impar- pact that these decisions have on a democracy. tiality and independence. Understanding election management as a series of This essay examines the policy aspect of elec- interconnected policy decisions rightfully captures tions in three sections: preparing for a general elec- how these decisions help to shape our democracy and tion, executing an election, and making citizen perceptions of it. recommendations to amend election law. It is important to emphasize that legislatures and Preparations for the 17th general election began elected members are the policy makers. Although the after my appointment on October 14th, 2010. Pri- Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) holds discretionary mary tasks included budgeting, hiring, procurement, powers and plays an important advisory role as an and strategic planning. Once these structural com- officer of the legislative assembly, election law is ponents were in place, we then implemented our made by elected representatives. Election law is the election preparedness plan. fundamental policy basis governing the conduct of As part of this effort, Elections NWT made fun- electoral events. At the same time, election manage- damental changes to voter registration by discontin- ment bodies (EMBs) such as Elections NWT have a uing the practice of comprehensive enumeration and critical role at various stages of the policy process, building the list of electors through data sharing and particularly at the stages of implementation and agreements. We updated and consolidated over 75 agenda-setting. The question explored in this essay administrative forms, such as the oath of elector, and is: What is the role of a Canadian EMB in the policy made many of these forms available electronically. process? Training materials were revised for accuracy and Without drifting too far into the epistemological simplicity, and training seminars were held for elec- realm, it may be helpful to remind ourselves of what tion officers. In advance of the election, we modern- is ‘public policy’. To be sure, the decisions of an ized and expanded our intranet site for election EMB are not those of government. Election man- management. Also, a marketing strategy was devel- agement in Canada has, for the most part, been suc- oped and implemented, with increased attention to cessfully separated from government in every matter our web presence and social media. These were some from budget allocation to the appointment of return- of the steps taken to bring Elections NWT to a state ing officers. At the same time, EMBs still exercise the of election readiness. powers of state. It may therefore be helpful to adopt In everything we did, policy development was re- a definition of public policy similar to that of quired to ensure that our practices were rational and Theodore Lowi, as an officially expressed intention consistent with the law. The Elections and Plebiscites Act backed by threat of sanction. was amended the year before the general election, The NWT was one of seven sub-national juris- causing more than 50 amendments to come into dictions in Canada that held a general election last force on July 1st, 2010. 38 Northern Public Affairs, Spring 2012 Major changes to the Act included: Elections in the NWT are held every four years • the introduction of voter identification in accordance with a fixed schedule. The 2011 terri- requirements; torial election ran from the issue of the writs on Sep- • a new early voting opportunity called tember 5th through polling day on October 3rd, the multi-district poll; when the unofficial results were announced, until • access by the CEO to certain govern- October 17th when the return of the writs certified ment data for the purpose of compil- who was elected. ing the Register of Territorial Electors; A total of 47 candidates ran for 19 seats in the • enabling the administration of the spe- Legislative Assembly. Three candidates were ac- cial (mail-in) ballot through the Office claimed as elected—which reflects the average num- of the CEO; and, ber of acclamations in NWT general elections. In • compliance agreements as an addi- electoral districts that held polls, the number of can- tional enforcement mechanism. didates ranged from two to five. Nine candidates (19 Beyond what is prescribed in legislation, the per cent) were women; as a percentage of all candi- CEO develops policy to determine how new and ex- dates, this figure is slightly below the average for fe- isting procedures will be implemented. For example, male participation in recent territorial elections. with respect to compliance agreements, an alterna- Polls opened for early voting on September 5th tive to prosecution to achieve legal compliance, I de- with the special (mail-in) ballot; later in the month, termined how these agreements would be multi-district polls were held for the first time at col- constructed, negotiated, communicated, and upheld. lege campuses and in prisons, polls for electors with Policy is therefore required to articulate how and why disabilities were delivered in residences, and voting this is done. in the Office of the Returning Officer was open for In fact, the enforcement of election law is a par- a ten day period. In all, 20 per cent of electors who ticularly salient example of the role of an EMB in cast a ballot did so before polling day. the policy process. In 2009, the Standing Committee After all ballots were counted on October 3rd, on Rules and Procedures, when examining electoral the unofficial results were, for the first time, commu- practices, recommended that: “...clear and consistent nicated directly from the CEO’s office to the public information be available to all candidates and the through our website. This was a very popular inno- public concerning the initiation of a complaint, what vation: on election night our website experienced happens to a complaint, the consequences of violat- over 32,000 page hits in a single hour. The unofficial ing the Elections and Plebiscites Act and decisions and results for the riding of Inuvik Boot Lake were so direction from the Chief Electoral Officer.” close that they mandated a judicial recount; the re- In April 2011, we published the Enforcement count was held on October 13th and affirmed the 5 Policy to convey what happens to a complaint once vote margin. Despite this close race and widespread it is received by the CEO, the basis for decision mak- interest in the results, only 48 per cent of eligible elec- ing, the stages of enforcement, and how decisions are tors cast a ballot. communicated. No such policy previously existed, Policy questions that arise during an election are leaving open to question what procedures were fol- often time sensitive and decisions rendered can affect lowed when complaints were received. campaign strategies and approaches. One mecha- The development of sound policy requires open nism I have to address policy questions during an communication. In 2011, I visited all 19 electoral dis- election is the power to issue instructions to election tricts in advance of the election and discussed elec- officers and candidates. This is an authority I exer- tions policy with returning officers, government cised eleven times during the 2011 general election. officials, and the press. Appearances at several events Instructions were issued to clarify, among other mat- also allowed me to discuss elections policy with im- ters, the delineation of polling division boundaries, portant groups; these events included, the Campaign how to account for certain election expenses, and School for Women organized by the NWT Status of how to identify who is responsible for election mes- Women Council, meetings of the Gwich’in Tribal sages. Council and Beaufort-Delta Regional Council, and Using CEO Instructions, Elections NWT is able the annual general meeting of the NWT Association to quickly communicate its policy positions. For ex- of Communities. In preparing for an election, it is ample, a CEO Instruction issued by me on Septem- important to limit the number of outstanding policy ber 6th concerned the use of social media by questions that might arise for candidates, official candidates and their campaign teams. With new agents, and voters during the campaign. media such as Facebook and Twitter now being used Northern Public Affairs, Spring 2012 39 in NWT political contests, there was the potential for am recommending adopting a system whereby voters uncertainty as to how these media would be regu- lists are made more public and on-line tools are used lated. In my CEO Instruction, I conveyed how to ac- to communicate registration information to electors. count for any costs incurred, what was a suitable I am also recommending that returning officers be identification notation depending on the medium in granted the power to strike names from the prelimi- use, and how the prohibition on broadcasting 48 nary list of electors during the revision period as a hours before polling day would apply.

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