The advice must be to follow the law - not start to amend its effect by adopting working practices which are inconsistent with its provisions. Working practices are commonly applied in terms of staff appointments. The law may well preclude certain people from being appointed as, for example, poll workers - the working practices may go much further in terms of setting out equal opportunities criteria, qualifications and age issues to be taken into account. Most legislators start off with the intention of creating electoral law that covers every conceivable issue which may arise during the electoral process. It is likely, however, that the electoral manager will be faced with a situation in which certain activities connected with the electoral process are not capable of being fully prescribed within the law.
Common examples are in the areas of media activities and campaign funding.
In such areas, it is important for the electoral manager to be aware of what responsibilities are not in his or her control. For example, whilst it is possible to prescribe in the law limits for the individual expenses of candidates or parties, actual control of these expenses is very difficult. Other organisations can easily support campaign activities and, with media controls, what is fair in one person's judgement is not fair in another person's. The electoral manager can only apply the law fairly and promptly. If the activity at the center of a complaint is outside the law then the electoral manager should make that clear and signify that he or she has no standing in the issue.