Once the election is over the bills have to be paid and all the temporary staff want their fees. The few weeks after the election come as a welcome relief for the electoral manager, however. This is when reconciling all the budget issues and statistics becomes a major task. The budget for the process should have been prepared well in advance and submitted for approval with all the necessary supporting information and data. Most electoral costs are met from national or local resources and as always there should be accountability for the sums and costs involved.
Elections are about equity and transparency.
For these reasons alone there is a need to show what has happened to the resources received and where and how these have been utilised. The government also needs to be able to justify that its funds were properly used and reported. The electoral law and regulations set out the electoral processes, and when all expenditure is complete, the final costs should be set out logically against each area of expenditure. If these can be cross-referenced against the provisions in legislation, it will be easy to see how much each process costs, what was involved and which part of the legislation required or authorised the expenditure incurred. Reconciling the budget to available funds is quite simple if there has been proper estimating in the first place, accurate records have been kept and the expenditure for each area of the electoral activity has been identified.