In terms of section 25 of the Presidential Elections Act the Returning Officer of each electoral district shall appoint a Senior Presiding officer for each polling station to exercise general supervision over the staff of the polling station and to conduct the poll on 17th November in accordance with the law and procedure laid down in the Act. His is a very vital role in the electoral process. For this reason the Returning Officer takes great care to handpick the appointees and provides them with the necessary training to ensure that they perform their duties with efficiency and impartiality in keeping with the highest standards of justice and fairplay. On his part a person appointed as senior presiding officer should be conscious of the great responsibility and the confidence vested in him and arm himself with the knowledge to face any challenges which may arise on polling day. Even if he has presided at earlier elections, he cannot afford to be complacent because in dealing with human beings new situations are always bound to arise and it is only the power of knowledge that will give him the confidence to handle any difficult situation. In an election like the present one where crucial issues are involved and the contestants are engaged in a bitter struggle the presiding officer might very well have to contend with new ruses and subterfuges to harass voters and upset the smooth work of the Polling station. Every Presiding officer must therefore bear two things in mind — knowledge is power and to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Appoint of Agents

There are four categories of

agents involved in the election apart from the Counting Agents. These are —

I. The Election Agent: Appointed by the candidate. The candidate can of course function as his own election agent.

II. The Authorised Agents: Each election agent is empowered to appoint an Authorised Agent for each electoral district.

III. Divisional Agent: Each Authorised agent can appoint one Divisional agent in respect of each polling division within the electoral district.

IV. Polling Agent: Each divisional Agent may appoint a reasonable number of polling agents for each polling station but only two such agents can function in the polling station at any one time.

Presiding officers must be aware of these appointments, all of which must be made in writing. The appointees must being their credentials with them if they wish to visit the polling station. More about that later.

Action to be taken on 16th November

Armed with his letter of appointment the Senior residing officer should proceed to the place indicated by the Returning Officer, establish his identity and take over the ballot papers, ballot boxes and all the other impedimenta required for the conduct of the poll. From that moment onwards he will be provided with an armed escort who should be with him all the time. In his report on the presidential Election of 1982, the then Election Commissioner had occasion to mention the case of a lady Senior presiding Officer who after collecting her ballot papers and ballot boxes had dropped her armed escort and gone to collect her husband before proceeding to the polling station. When the Returning officer heard of her irresponsible behaviour he recalled the ballot papers, and ballot boxes and revoked her appointment, I remember a more serious incident that occurred in Kandy. This time it was a male SPO Having collected the ballot papers and other election paraphernalia he proceeded to Dalada Weediya parked his car, asked his armed escort to go and have some lunch while he himself went into a restaurant across the road. A Police patrol saw the car with a ballot box in the rear seat and discovered to his horror that the car was not locked. When this was brought to the notice of the Returning officer he promptly took over all the documents and revoked the appointment. Today, when crime is rampant, the armed escort must always be with the SPO.

The Rehearsal on 16th November

The rehearsal on the day before the poll when the senior presiding officer meets his polling staff for the first time is very important. He must get to know his staff inspire confidence, assign duties and rehearse the poll. He must discuss various situations that could arise, question the staff and provide the solutions. Under no circumstances should he part with the ballot papers and ballot boxes or dispense with the armed escort. He and the staff must turn in early so that they will be absolutely fresh and fit for the next day.

Action on the morning of the poll

Preliminary work must start very early in the morning so that when the polling agents arrive their credentials could be checked and the layout of the polling station explained to them. The Senior presiding officer must remember that this is the time when the polling agents will evaluate him and find out whether he is firm and knowledgeable. Every polling agent fears and respects a no-nonsense type of presiding officer and obeys his orders. It should be made very clear to them that under no circumstances will he permit harassment of voters. Legitimate objections will always be looked into but frivolous will produce only negative results.

Sealing of ballot boxes and commencement of poll

Section 34 of the Act states that immediately before the commencement of the poll the Senior residing officer shall show the ballot papers, the official seal, the official mark and the relevant extracts of the electoral register to such persons as may be present in the station. He will also show each ballot box to be used so that the persons present may be satisfied that it is empty. He will then lock up the box and place his seal on it so that it cannot be opened without breaking the seal and place it in his view for the receipt of ballot papers on which votes have been cast. The poll should commence sharp at 7 a.m.

The first hour is critical. There could very well be long restless queues at the entrance to the polling station. The polling staff will take a little time to get used to the routine, they might even forget to place the all important official mark on the ballot paper which will result in that ballot paper being rejected at the counting of votes, the polling agents might be nervous or in the exuberance of their enthusiasm make a nuisance of themselves and impede the smooth flow of voters. This is the time when the senior presiding officer must be on his feet effectively supervising every aspect of the operation, maintaining a cool head and of course showing sound judgment. Once he has established an even tenor of voting he will have ample time to attend to his desk work and write up his journal.

The Official Poll Card

The Returning Officer will send to each elector an official poll card giving his name, address and the a serial number assigned to him in the electoral register. It is possible that he might turn up at the polling station without the poll card either because he had received it or because it had been stolen. The fact that he has no poll card does not disqualify him from voting if he can prove his identity and where the presiding officer so requires he is prepared to sign a form of identity. Racketing in poll cards is fairly common. The genuine voter cannot be penalized for it.

Who may be admitted to a

polling station?

This is a matter of concern to candidates, election staff and polling agents alike. Judging from the many untoward incidents that have occurred in the past where unauthorized persons and armed thugs have walked into stations and disrupted proceedings senior presiding officers must be very strict about the persons who can enter a polling station when the poll is on. The law is clear on the subject. Section 32(2) requires the senior presiding officer to keep order in his polling station and to regulate the number of voters to be admitted at a time. He should exclude all other persons except the candidates election agent authorized agent, divisional agent, polling agents (two at a time) the polling staff the police officers on duty the Returning officer and his authorized assistants. In the enforcement of this law the senior presiding officer cannot be timid. He must be intrepid and put his foot down obtaining the assistance of the police if necessary. Any attempt to stuff ballot boxes or even to remove them must be vehemently resisted. Details of any untoward incident should be recorded in the journal.

Objections

While polling agents can raise objection when they are sure that a person who applies for a ballot paper is not the person he claims to be, frivolous objections should be discouraged. In this connection it is important to remember the provisions of section 41 which state that the Presiding officer may in his discretion and, if so required, to do so by a polling agent shall, require any voter to subscribe all or any of the declarations prescribed in that section before he is issued with a ballot paper. If any persons refuses to make any such declaration the presiding officer may refuse to give him a ballot paper.

Tendered Ballot Papers Section 43

This ballot paper which is different in colour from an ordinary ballot paper is issued to a voter who finds that his vote has been cast by someone else. The voter must first make the prescribed declaration before he is issued with a tendered ballot paper. These ballot papers become relevant if there are allegations that impersonations have affected the result of the election. The necessity to issue tendered ballot papers will not arise if the polling agents are vigilant and do their properly.

Assistance to voter enable them to vote (section 38)

The Presiding officer or a person authorized by him, normally the junior presiding officer, may if he thinks fit, on the application of a voter, explain to him within sight and hearing of the polling agents the method of voting but in doing so he must carefully abstain from any action which might be construed by the voter as advice or a direction to vote for any particular candidate.

Marking ballot papers for voters (section 38)

On the application of any voter who is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause from marking his vote the presiding officer shall, in presence of another member of his polling staff, mark the ballot paper of such voter in the manner directed by him.

I remember one occasion when a presiding officer was called upon to provide this service a little too often causing anxiety among the polling agents some of whom were wondering whether the votes were being correctly marked. One supposed to be a blind voter sought the presiding officer’s assistance. After the presiding officer had marked the vote and was folding the ballot paper to be deposited in the ballot box the voter wanted to see for whom the vote had been marked! On being questioned he said he was not blind but had been sent s a decoy to check whether ballot papers were being marked according to the wishes of the voter!



Disturbances at Polling Stations

Section 46A of the Act states that where due to the occurrence of events of such a nature —

(a) It is not possible to commence the poll at the polling station at the hour fixed for the commencement of the poll.

(b) The poll at such polling station commences at the prescribed but cannot be continued until closing time; or

(c) Any of the ballot boxes used at that polling station cannot be delivered to the Returning Officer

The presiding officer shall forthwith inform the Returning officer who in turn will inform the Elections Commissioner. It would be open to the Election Commissioner to declare the poll at such polling station void. He could also in certain circumstances order a fresh poll and even hold up the declaration of the result until the vote cast at the fresh poll have been counted.

The Last hour of poll: In a bitterly contested where voter turn out is very heavy there could very well be a rush of bonafide and who knows bogus voters to cast their votes. Approaching the end of a long day the tendency may be for everyone other than the impersonators to relax. As in the morning this is the time when the senior residing officer must be on his feet to ensure that every genuine voter is able to cast his vote and at the same time to send a message across to would be mischief makers that he is on the alert.

Action on the close of the poll:

Section 45 states that as soon as practicable after the close of the poll the senior presiding officer shall, in the presence of the polling agents, make separate packets sealed with his own seal and the seal of such polling agents as desire to affix their seals.

(a) The sealed ballot box or boxes used at the polling station by closing aperture and sealing it so as to prevent the introduction of any ballot papers thereafter.

(b) The key of each ballot box:

(c) The unused and spoilt ballot papers placed together.

(d) The marked copies of the electoral lists and the counterfoils of the issue ballot papers.

(e) The list of voters to whom ballot papers are not delivered under section 36; and

(f) The tendered votes list

The Ballot Papers Account

All the above mentioned packets must be accompanied by a Ballot Paper Account on the prescribed form which shows the number of ballot papers received, the number of ballot papers issued other than spoilt ballot papers, the number of spoilt ballot papers, the unused ballot papers, the number of tendered ballot papers received, the number of tendered ballot papers issued to voters and the number of unused tendered ballot papers.

All the ballot boxes and the packets listed above should be taken under an armed escort and delivered to the Counting officer. No stop on the way or deviation from the prescribed route is permitted under any circumstances.

Conclusion

At this election when unscrupulous elements might very well resort to hold and corner methods to secure victory, the Senior Presiding Officer has a greater responsibility than ever before. He must be knowledgeable, firm, tactful and vigilant and do everything that is humanly possible to ensure that the poll will be clean and fair and will reflect the wishes of the voters. He must pay particular attention to the following:

(a) Close and personal supervision of the work at the polling station during the hours of poll. As far as possible he must be on his feet particularly during the rush hours.

(b) His actions should always be transparent as this alone will create confidence in his impartiality.

(c) He must ensure that the voting cubicles are so positioned that the voter can mark his ballot paper in absolute secrecy.

(d) Polling agents should not be allowed to talk to voters or to harass them.

(e) The failure of a voter to produce a poll card is no ground to refuse a ballot paper so long as he or she can produce proof of identity. This is particularly important as stealing poll cards and trafficking in them have now reached alarming proportions.

(f) No person should be permitted to delay unnecessarily inside the voting cubicle.

(g) One officer must always keep an eye on the ballot box to ensure that pieces of paper or anything other than a ballot paper is not dropped into the box. As a corollary to this a voter should under no circumstances be allowed to take a ballot paper out of the polling station. Anyone attempting to do so must be handed over to the police with a written complaint.

(h) The high security zone around the polling station i.e. half a kilometre of the entrance to the polling station, should be strictly enforced and no persons should be allowed to loiter around the canvas or solicit votes.

(i) The Police Officer or duty must obey the orders of the Senior Presiding Officer, and ensure that nothing untoward or irregular occurs in and around the polling station.

(j) The Senior Presiding Officer should always be conscious of the fact that he is performing a sacred and onerous duty and that it is his responsibility to ensure the security and safety of his staff and also the polling agents on duty. There have been instances in the past when thugs have walked into polling stations, threatened polling agents and even chased them away. No Senior Presiding Officer worthy of his mettle will allow this to happen.

(k) After the poll is closed, and the ballot boxes etc. have been sealed the Senior Presiding Officer should make a beeline to the counting centre and hand them over to the counting Officer, It is only then he can think of the much needed cigarette, refreshments or a cup of tea!