The task of District Electoral Commissions is to conduct voting in a given voting district (putting it somewhat simply—in a given polling station), ensure compliance with electoral law at the place and during the time of voting, determine the voting results in the district and make them publicly available, and send the voting results to the Constituency Electoral Commission (Article 185 of the Electoral Code).
The District Electoral Commission bears most of the responsibility for the proper conduct of voting, the accuracy and speed of counting the results, and responding to attempts to violate the law during voting (such as disturbances or attempts at electioneering in the polling station).
When determining the final election results, higher-level commissions will rely exclusively on data submitted by District Electoral Commissions (OKW)—the same data that OKWs make publicly available in their districts. This means that distortion of election results—whether resulting from unintentional errors or deliberate action—can occur only at the stage of the OKW’s work. If citizens can trust District Electoral Commissions, the integrity of their members and their efficiency in carrying out the tasks entrusted to them, they will also be able to place full trust in the accuracy of the election results announced by the National Electoral Commission. Awareness that the work of OKWs will be subject to continuous oversight should also help build such trust—both internally, through commission members mutually “watching each other’s hands,” and externally, through plenipotentiaries of election committees, civic election observers, and observers representing international institutions.
The role and method of appointing OKWs are described in Articles 181a–186 of the Electoral Code, while the detailed tasks of OKWs before election day, on election day before the polling station opens to voters, during voting and while counting votes are described in the “Guidelines for District Electoral Commissions” adopted by the National Electoral Commission.
When Does a District Electoral Commission Work?
The main period of the OKW’s work is, of course, election day and the night that follows. Commission members usually gather at the polling station one to two hours before voting begins, and therefore no later than 6:00 a.m.; when they finish their work depends mainly on their efficiency and the size of the electoral district. In practice, only the most efficient commissions in the smallest districts can expect to finish before midnight; commissions working into the early hours of the Monday after the election are by no means rare. On election day, one should therefore expect at least 20, and possibly 24 or even more, hours of work. During voting itself (from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.), individual members may take several-hour “breaks,” provided that at least half of the commission remains at the polling station, including the Chair or Deputy Chair. However, all commission members should participate in activities before the polling station opens, counting votes and completing the protocols. The work of OKW members generally ends after the protocols have been successfully sent to the Constituency Commission and the election documentation has been secured, including the counted ballot papers.
OKW members also have specific tasks to perform before election day. First, immediately after the members are appointed (no later than 20 days before the election), the Commission must constitute itself and elect a Chair and Deputy Chair. The Commission must also prepare packages for postal voting; however, because the group of people eligible to vote in this manner in the forthcoming election is very limited, there will be little work associated with this. On the day before the election, the commission must also collect ballot papers and other materials, such as voter registers, and check whether the polling station has been properly prepared.
Commission members are also required to participate in training. This obligation should be taken very seriously—inadequate training of OKW members, especially chairs, is the main cause of subsequent errors, whether in conducting the vote or counting votes and completing protocols.
Why Is It Worth Becoming an OKW Member, and How Can You Become One?
Members of District Electoral Commissions are the most important guardians of the proper conduct of the voting process and the determination of its results. At the same time, incompetent, unreliable or dishonest OKW members potentially threaten the fairness and efficiency of elections. That is why it is so important that as many people as possible be ready to work in District Electoral Commissions, motivated primarily by a desire to promote and protect democratic values.
District Electoral Commission members are appointed by electoral commissioners from among candidates submitted 30 days before the election date (that is, by September 15) by election committees, while maintaining the required quotas. If election committees submit too few candidates for a given commission, the commissioner appoints additional people from among interested voters within the following 10 days. Thus, to become an OKW member, one should contact one of the election committees sufficiently early or declare one’s willingness directly to the electoral commissioner.
For work in a District Electoral Commission during elections to the Sejm and Senate, members are entitled to an allowance of PLN 600–800, depending on the function they perform in the commission.
What Qualities Should an OKW Member Have
According to the Electoral Code, an OKW member must have active voting rights and be a resident of the voivodeship in which the given voting district is located; they do not, however, have to live in that district. There are therefore no additional requirements concerning qualifications or education. So what should a candidate for a good OKW member be like?
- They must be absolutely honest.
- They must be impartial and remember that even if their candidacy was submitted by a particular election committee, as an OKW member they do not represent that committee, but all citizens and the State.
- They must have sufficient stamina and resistance to stress—the work of an OKW member on election day is genuinely demanding and, above all, long.
- They must not be prone to arguments, be patient and know how to cooperate well with others. By definition, the commission is to consist of people with different political views. On the one hand, commission members are supposed to “watch each other’s hands”; on the other, above all, they will have to carry out a difficult and very exhausting task together.
- They must, however, be assertive, so that they are not afraid to react when procedures are violated. It is also good for them to be competent with basic arithmetic—addition and subtraction will be enough; higher mathematics will not be needed.
Jacek Haman—dr hab., head of the Chair of Formal Models and Quantitative Methods in Sociology at the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Warsaw. Member of the Electoral Experts Team of the Stefan Batory Foundation.