13/04/2024
An interesting read indeed!
The 5 Principles of Integrity in Elections (Paul S. DeGregorio and Adam Ambrogi)
https://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-5-principles-integrity-election-administration.html
About the authors
Paul DeGregorio has devoted his professional career focused on the promotion of democracy and excellence in election administration and is considered one of the world’s top election experts. He has worked in over 30 countries and served as the chief election official of the United States. DeGregorio has worked for public, non-profit and private institutions and organizations, and has focused on technical innovations to serve voters, and remote and disable voters in particular. DeGregorio has held significant policy-making and top management positions in prominent institutions that have advanced the cause of democracy and freedom throughout the world.
Adam Ambrogi served for over eight years as Director of the Elections and Voting Program at Democracy Fund. In that role, he helped create the Fund and led grantmaking, strategy, education, and advocacy around three areas: promoting voting rights, ensuring a voter-centric system of election administration, and promoting greater trust in our elections process.
Excerpt from the narrative and what ifs....
Independence: Like other elected officials, some election administrators must raise campaign contributions. In the course of their work, some might be called on to make decisions affecting contributors. Hallmarks of independence include avoiding conflicts of interest and treating all parties fairly by adhering to the law.
- if this applies to SCI, the appointed Chairman of the COMELEC committee shall decide independently avoiding conflict of interest from both parties.
Transparency: Candidates and voters have a right to know how an elections office conducts its business. All election business should be transparent, whether it is ballot design or the procuring of voting systems. Emails and other communications should be housed in secure servers with a permanent record kept for quick compliance with open-government requests. Oversight boards should be subject to open-meeting rules, along with requirements for bipartisan representation. And once the polls close, where possible the counting process should be livestreamed.
- if this applies to SCI, residents should be aware who are the qualified voters and candidates. Residents must know how validation for candidates and voters was conducted. Residents must be made aware of Bylaws (including Articles of Incorporation and Master Deed of Restrictions) were strictly followed and the objective of the committee was made clear.
Integrity: An election office with a high level of integrity limits opportunities for an administrator to act with unchecked discretion. These opportunities include decisions about when and where registration and early voting are conducted and what information (such as pre-election turnout) is given to a candidate or party. An election administrator should never use his or her office to express partisan support or opposition, and also should avoid doing so on personal social media accounts.
- if this applies to SCI, hard deadlines are set and should not be changed on a whim. If considerations are made it should be at the best interest of the majority and not base on a person/s agenda. Pertinent documents related to the election such as proxy forms should be kept by the proxies and not the committee. The duty of the committee is to validate the corporate member and its proxy and not the keeper prior to election, only during election day is when the committee will keep the proxy form. Election guidelines should be officiated and made public.
Competence: There have been elections where too few paper ballots have been available, polling stations were not practical or accessible, or poll workers were not equipped to meet challenges on Election Day. How an election official serves all precincts, with equitable attention to detail, is a true test of competence.
- if this applies to SCI, the committee is visible and is rigorously campaigning to have an election at the cost of rewarding and encouraging delinquencies.
Fairness: Good communication can mitigate potential issues of unfairness. Election administrators should reach out to stakeholders in the community before making decisions that could be perceived as biased or insensitive. Ask for buy-in, give it the appropriate weight, and then explain how that dialogue affects election-management decisions.
- if this applies to SCI, Chairman of the COMELEC committee and its members appear to not value and undermine stake holders (previous elections qualified voters) as the incumbent elected BODs approval for the created guidelines was not checked nor approved before they independently distribute such document.
As this election year unfolds, our voting process will face intense scrutiny. A commitment to ethics is essential.
