The essence of what you are looking for in a great Elections Official is a unique combination of a number of qualities, skill sets and experience…of course. Understanding the difference and compliments between these qualities will assist you in identifying a solid candidate to consider as your Chief Electoral Officer.  Use the profile sets presented here as a baseline and in conjunction with Chapter 5: You get what you pay for – cheaper is not better to help build your own ideal election official profile, and your eventual evaluation process and assessment tools.

Executive Set.

  • Leader – plans for tomorrow. Strong at utilizing and motivating people. Brilliant at enhancing performance.
  • Manager – delivers today. Strong on process and following rules. Brilliant at utilizing full potential.
  • Administrator – organizes people. Strong on effective use of resources. Brilliant at reaching objectives.

Elections Set

  • Culture – has an awareness, understanding and exposure to working with First Nations.
  • Experience – has delivered successful elections processes across a variety of types.
  • Appeals – how many appeals filed?  How many appeals successful (these are failed delivery of elections processes)?

Communications Set

  • Technology – computer and application knowledge, and can clearly demonstrates expertise.
  • Social Media – user and advocate, and understands the techniques and technologies essential to exploit this media.
  • Communications – can convey message clearly, delivers the message effectively, and illicit feedback on the message.

Everyone you consider should have some mix of these qualities, and what you are looking for is the right mixture that is the best fit for your First Nation.  Every First Nation will be slightly different in how these profile evaluations sets might be weighted (and in fact weighted differently within each of the profile sets), and may in fact change from one election cycle to the next. You may require in your next election cycle a Chief Electoral Officer that is more heavily weighted in these qualities and in this order: Administrator, Social Media, Communications, Experience and Appeals.  The next election cycle may be different: Manager, Appeals, Technology, Leader, and Culture.

When used in full conjunction with the core competencies checklist provided in Chapter 5 it does indeed seem a little over-kill in formulating your Chief Electoral Officer selection criteria and process! Remember these checklists are both suggestions for your consideration (meaning take from them what you want and disregard the rest) and a framework for information and capacity building (think of it as stepping outside the box and looking a little deeper and further in how you select the election officials which represent your Nation during this critical and important Nation building event).  In both instances the intent is only to provide tools and resources that I hope will be useful and beneficial, with the full understanding that thoughts and opinions presented in this Elections Manifesto may not be relevant to every First Nation.

One last shout out, that the content of this Elections Manifesto is to have your Chief Electoral Officer appointed at least on year in advance of your next election.  When developing your posting and/or call for proposals be clear on the qualifications and competencies of the Chief Electoral Officer you are looking for and set clear objectives, and describe the delivery of services, events and outcomes you want realized.  Also be sure to highlight the submission details you are looking for…for example, a communication plan including the use of social media platforms, the number of community meetings required, a demonstrated understanding of your elections code/rules (did they even read it?) and of course a proposed budget.

YOUR SELECTION PROCESS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A NEGOTIATION – ONCE YOU HAVE THE BEST CANDIDATE MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BEST PRICE FOR SERVICES.

A final word on the budget proposed…it should be detailed enough that it provides you with a comfort level that what is being proposed can be accomplished.  Is there enough $$$ to meet the deliverables and objectives – cheaper is not better if after a few months the Chief Electoral Officer quits because they can’t afford to do the work, or they did not have a clear grasp on what it takes to work with and in your community, or did not know the first thing about setting up a FaceBook page.

Good luck! Let me know how it goes, and if you need any further assistance in your upcoming election process and/or the selection of your next Chief Electoral Officer please give me a call or send me an email.  I would be happy to provide whatever assistance I can at no charge.

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Lawrence Lewis

“Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.” ~Anthony Robbins

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 🙂