Introduction - Survey of Election Officers for the 44th Federal General Election
Elections Canada, an independent, non-partisan agency that reports directly to Parliament, is responsible for conducting federal elections in Canada. Following the 44th general election, Elections Canada (EC) conducted a survey of election officers to evaluate the quality of services they received from EC, and to collect opinions on various election-related issues. Phoenix Strategic Perspectives (Phoenix SPI) was commissioned by EC to survey election officers following the 44th general election (GE).
1. Background and Objectives
The mandate of EC is to
- be prepared to conduct a federal general election, by-election, or referendum;
- administer the political financing provisions of the Canada Elections Act;
- monitor compliance with electoral legislation;
- conduct public information campaigns on voter registration, voting, and becoming a candidate;
- conduct education programs for students on the electoral process;
- provide support to the independent commissions in charge of adjusting the boundaries of federal electoral districts following each decennial census;
- carry out studies on alternative voting methods and, with the approval of parliamentarians, test alternative voting processes for future use during electoral events; and
- provide assistance and cooperation in electoral matters to electoral agencies in other countries or to international organizations.
As part of Elections Canada's evaluation program, the agency commissioned a survey of election officers who worked during the 44th federal GE. This included the following poll staff: deputy returning officers (DRO), registration officers, central poll supervisors (CPS), and information officers. In addition to these poll staff, the survey sample included individuals who were trained but were absent for all their scheduled shifts.
The purpose of the survey was to obtain election officers' viewpoints on various election-related issues, as well as their working experience during the 44th federal GE. In particular, the objectives of this survey were to assess election officers' views regarding
- recruitment and remuneration;
- level of preparation, including training;
- EC's services, products and tools, including tools for assisting electors with a disability;
- overall experience working at the polls, including proceedings at the polls, exceptional procedures and relationships with colleagues and supervisors; and
- the impact of COVID-19 safety measures.
The results will be used to assess the quality of the programs and services provided during the 44th federal GE. Similar surveys were conducted following the 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 43rd federal general elections.
2. Methodology
A mixed-mode data collection strategy was used to survey 4,168 election officers following the 44th GE. Of the 4,168 surveys administered, 2,490 were completed by telephone and 1,678 were completed by web. To ensure adequate sample sizes for subgroup analyses, several groups of officers were oversampled: specifically, officers who worked at mobile polls or polling places in First Nations communities, or in retirement residences and long-term care facilities. The survey data were weighted to accurately reflect the distribution of election officers by region, type of position, type of poll, and type of polling place. Based on a sample of this size, the overall results can be considered accurate to within ±1.5%, 19 times out of 20. The fieldwork was conducted from December 10, 2021, through January 14, 2022. For a more complete description of the methodology, refer to the Appendix.
3. Notes to Readers
- All results in the report are expressed as percentages, rounded to the nearest whole number unless otherwise noted. Percentages may not always add to 100% due to rounding or multiple response questions. In addition, when percentages are aggregated (i.e., ratings of 4 and 5 on a five-point scale are summed), unrounded values are used.
- The terms "poll workers," "poll staff" and "election officers" are used in the report to refer to those who held positions at polling places or mobile polls: central poll supervisors, information officers, registration officers, or deputy returning officers.
- The number of respondents changes throughout the report because questions were often addressed to sub-samples of the survey sample. Accordingly, readers should be aware of this and exercise caution when interpreting results based on smaller numbers of respondents.
- Subgroup differences are identified in the report. When reporting subgroup variations, only differences that are significant at the 95% confidence level and that pertain to a subgroup sample size of more than n=30 are discussed in the report.
- If one or more categories in a subgroup are not mentioned in a discussion of subgroup differences (for example, if two out of eight regions are compared), it can be assumed that significant differences were found only among the categories reported.
- Similar surveys were conducted in 2008, 2011, 2015, and 2019; where appropriate, reference is made to previous results.