Temporary employment positions with the AEC

Temporary Office Assistants

Temporary Office Assistants are engaged on a 'needs' basis to assist permanent staff on specific tasks related to a specific event, such as a federal election.

Due to variations in workloads there are no guarantees as to the nature or duration of the work on a particular day. Temporary Office Assistants are engaged at the manager's discretion and may not be required for duty after a specific task is completed.

As a general rule Temporary Office Assistants work during normal business hours, however due to deadlines imposed during an election there may be a requirement to work during evenings and/or weekends and public holidays.

Polling Officials

There are two categories of Polling Officials engaged for Federal Elections - those that are required to work in the period immediately prior to polling day to assist with early voting (mobile and pre-poll voting) and those that are required to work in a polling place on polling day only.

The Divisional Returning Officer (DRO) determines the hours of duty of mobile and pre-poll voting.

Polling Officials employed on polling day are advised of the hours of duty when an Offer of Employment is made. Duty can commence as early as 7.00am and staff are required to remain on duty after 6.00pm until all work at the polling place is completed.

Duties of Polling Staff

Officer-in-Charge (OIC)

OICs are responsible for the management and the conduct of polling at the polling place.

Responsibilities include the inspection and setting up of the polling place, receipt and checking of all election materials, supervising polling staff in their duties, conducting the count, packaging and returning materials to the Divisional Office.

Second-in-Charge (2IC)

2ICs are employed mainly in larger polling places to assist the OIC with polling and counting duties. They may provide relief for other polling staff as required.

Polling Place Liaison Officer (PPLO)

PPLOs are selected to act as 'agents' for the Divisional Returning Officer (DRO) on polling day. Acting with the authority of the DRO, PPLOs visit a group of polling places to observe and advise on proceedings.

Declaration Vote Issuing Officer

Declaration Vote Issuing Officers process Declaration Vote Envelopes, issue votes to absent and provisional electors, complete relevant returns, package/label materials at close of poll and assist with the count of ballot papers after the close of poll.

Inquiry Officer

Inquiry Officers attend to the needs of electors waiting in the queue, assist electors who require help in casting a vote and assist with the count of ballot papers after the close of poll.

Ordinary Vote Issuing Officer

Ordinary Vote Issuing Officers issue ordinary ballot papers to electors whose names are found on the Certified List of Voters, mark the Certified List, complete the account of ballot papers and assist with the count of ballot papers after the close of poll.

Ballot Box Guard

Ballot Box Guards supervise ballot boxes to ensure that voters place ballot papers in the correct ballot box, direct voters to the exit and assist with the count of ballot papers after the close of poll.

Queue Controller

Queue Controllers organise electors into a single queue, direct electors to Issuing Points, ensure Absent electors are directed to Declaration Issuing Points, identify electors who require assistance and assist with the count of ballot papers after close of poll.

Scrutiny Assistant

Scrutiny Assistants are employed from 5.30pm to assist with the dismantling of voting screens, unfolding of ballot papers, packaging of material and tidying the polling place.

Electoral Visitors

Electoral Visitors conduct mobile polling at identified institutions such as hospitals, convalescent homes and aged care facilities in the week prior to polling day in accordance with a published itinerary.

Pre-poll Voting Officers

Pre-poll Voting Officers issue votes from Pre-poll Voting Centres (PPVCs). These are generally located in holiday areas, transport terminals, shopping centres and areas remote from a Divisional Office. They provide a service to electors who are unable to vote on polling day or are from interstate. The Officer-in-Charge of the PPVC is responsible for the supervision of staff, daily reconciliation, final balancing, packaging and returning all materials to the Divisional Office.

Remote Mobile Polling

In some States (NT, QLD, WA, SA), limited numbers of polling officials are engaged to conduct mobile polling in remote areas, frequently Aboriginal Communities.

Persons expressing interest in this type of polling must be able to demonstrate cross cultural awareness and sensitivity and confirm their ability and willingness to travel in light aircraft, 4WD vehicles or boats.

Electoral Roll Review Officers

Electoral Roll Review Officers (ERROs) are engaged to call on selected residences in specified areas known as 'walks', to establish that the residents are correctly enrolled.

Walks are combined into workloads of around 150 to 200 residences and take between 7 and 14 days to complete.

An ERRO must be physically capable of walking for extended periods, coping with stairs and difficult terrain, have a drivers licence and access to a vehicle and be able to demonstrate good oral and written communication skills.

The rates of pay for each position are available to download for information.

What to expect working on an election

Inside the polling place

Polling officials work inside the polling place, issuing votes to electors.

Outside the polling place supporters of candidates and political parties distribute how-to-vote material. These people are not employed by the AEC and are not polling officials.

What's it like to be a polling official on polling day?

The day starts early for a polling official. The officer-in-charge is at the polling place by 7 o'clock in the morning and the other polling officials arrive by 7.30am. There's a lot to do before polling starts at 8am. The ballot papers need to be distributed to the issuing points and the ordinary issuing officers need to open the certified lists. Everything has to be in order so that polling can start at exactly 8am.

Mornings in the polling place tend to be the busiest time as most people like to vote early. The rest of the day is quite steady. While it will be a busy day in polling places it is still important for staff to take adequate breaks in accordance with the following:

• Employees cannot work more than five hours continuously without taking at least a 30 minute meal break. Meal breaks will generally be at the direction of the Manager or supervisor.
• It is the responsibility of AEC employees to ensure they take this break. You should discuss with your supervisor or manager if you have any special requirements or there are medical reasons that may require you to consume food at regular intervals you should advise your supervisor or manager at the time of commencing duty.

Staff working on polling day should ensure that they bring sufficient food and drinks to sustain themselves through the day.

Polling places vary throughout Australia. Some large polling places take in excess of 6000 votes whereas smaller polling places in rural and remote areas may only issue as little as 100 or so votes. Larger polling places employ as many as 16 polling officials. In smaller polling places an Officer in Charge (OIC) and an ordinary issuing officer may be all that's required.

What happens once the voting has finished?

After the poll closes at 6pm ordinary issuing officers and declaration vote issuing officers reconcile the ballot papers, return materials to the OIC and then assist with the sorting and counting of ballot papers.

Sorting and counting ballot papers

Once the ballot papers have been unfolded, staff commence work sorting the ballot papers into piles for each candidate. Polling staff carefully check each ballot paper to see if it is formal or informal. Informal ballot papers are placed in a separate pile for the OIC to check.

The ballot papers for each candidate are counted in bundles of 50. Once counting has finished the polling official supervising the counting records the result. These figures are rechecked and reconciled with the number of ballot papers issued at the polling place.

Transmitting results

The OIC telephones the divisional office three times during polling night: once with the result of the House of Representatives first preference votes count; then again with the result of the two candidate preferred count; and finally with the result of the Senate first preference count. The results that the divisional office receives from the polling place are entered into the AEC's Election Management system and transmitted to the National Tally Room in Canberra and displayed on the website's Virtual Tally Room.

Once all the results have been transmitted to the divisional office and the polling place has been packed up, staff are free to go home.