When is the best time to appoint a Chief Electoral Officer for your First Nations elections?

Truth be told – no one ever asks this question.  Which is really too bad, because honestly the answer is really to do it as soon as possible.  In fact, I would suggest that it should be done at least 1 year before the election and maybe even earlier if your First Nation has a particularly large Membership.  There are lots of good reasons to do this of course, the key points of which I will get to momentarily, and the one perceived myth of increased costs associated with an early appointment of the Chief Electoral Officer.

The conventional wisdom and practice is to appoint the Chief Electoral Officer (almost to the minute) no sooner than required under the governing election rules or code.  Often, and not without community discontent, it seems the appointment of the election official is left to the last minute and not a high priority until it is a crisis that needs to be dealt with.  I could go in to a whole diatribe about effective governance practices and community leadership – but not here.  Suffice it to say however, there are some real benefits to appointing your Chief Electoral Officer sooner than later.  No only may it save the First Nation some big coin by avoiding appeals and court actions, it will certainly improve the community perception of election processes, build knowledge and understanding, and enhance transparency and communication.

It’s not something that gets talked about – the court costs of First Nation election appeals – more often costing tens of thousands of dollars – money that could certainly be spent on more important issues like housing and education.  Consider though that a well thought out election governance policy practice could avoid the whole matter all together.

Here are 3 immediate benefits to appointing your Chief Electoral Officer as soon as possible and ideally at least one year in advance of the scheduled election date:

  • Enhanced Communication – allow more time to communicate election processes and procedures.  This is an opportunity to inform Members through newsletters, community meetings or information sessions, through the First Nations website and other social media (like Facebook), and allow for feedback and discussion.  This is increasingly important for off-reserve members who often feel left out of the community discussion…and really given today’s free modern communications media there is no excuse for anyone to feel left out.
    • Have the Chief Electoral Officer develop a communications plan that maps out a strategy to inform the community leading up to the election which compliments the communication ‘requirements’ of your election rules – the more time to do this is what really matters.
  • Transparency and Openness – the discussion is what matters not the opinions.  Generally, people just want to be heard and engaged and acknowledged.  Distrust emerges when people are denied the opportunity to be heard, and community discord emerges when people are denied the opportunity to participate in their own governance.  Election appeals can be a costly endeavor that also further divides a community and negatively impacts all Members, not to mention impedes the progress and ability of the sitting Council to serve the community!
    • Appoint a Chief Electoral Officer that has no familial or employment connections to your community.  Having an election official with no real or perceived conflicts of interest is of course imperative AND will, coupled with a communications plan, demonstrate a completely transparent elections process.
  • Demonstrate Leadership and Commitment to Members – safeguard your Nations governance and community interests by treating your election processes and procedures with due diligence and attention.  When you get right down to it, the election of your governing body is the very first event that sets the stage for all other priorities during the term of elected office…problems with the election often cripple the community and undermine their effectiveness – the community suffers, wealth and opportunity are lost, and ‘nothing’ gets done.
    • Appoint a well qualified Chief Electoral Officer at least one year in advance of the election date, work with them to create a communications plan that builds awareness and educates, provides a safe and useful forum for feedback and community input, and sets the tone for a successful and positive election process.

The Myth

The idea that appointing a Chief Electoral Officer at least one year in advance of the election date will cost a large fortune is…well, just does not have to be true.  Think of it in this context:  the average First Nation should expect to pay a “base contract cost” between $20-$30 per electorate (plus travel costs for election officials and unique election requirements – like paid advertising for example but not mail in ballot costs) to conduct their elections.  Very small Nations (less than 150 members) will have inflated per Member costs of course and Nations with a large portions of Members living off-reserves may also have increased per member costs – each Nation will have unique considerations.  But my experience so far is that the average noted base contract cost above is pretty accurate.

Calculate that the costs of appointing a Chief Electoral Officer at least one year in advance of the election date would add about $2.00 per electorate – or about $0.07 cents on the dollar increase in base contract costs. If you consider all the added benefits to the community and Members, and avoiding the costs of an expensive election appeal, and not to mention eliminating lost productivity and lost opportunity – clearly this is 7 cents well spent.

If you are still unsure (or you simply don’t believe me, “…say what?”) give me a jingle and I will take your particular First Nation information and schedule it out for you in some detail – at no charge.  The astute will see an opportunity to also get baseline cost information for what your First Nation election process and procedures should really cost (some First Nations are probably paying too much).

I guess that’s all I have to say on this topic at this point.  Tell me, what do you think about the idea of appointing the Chief Electoral Officer for your First Nation election at least one year in advance of the election date?

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Lawrence Lewis

“We are imperfect.  We cannot expect perfect government.” – William Howard Taft

 

About Lawrence Lewis

I do a number of things professionally...but most of all and the true purpose of what I do through "my work" is to provide for my family, be a good husband and great father, and try to make a difference as a world citizen...I guess it's not much more complicated than that 🙂