74 GEDT and IMT for Incident Management BOARD 28 August.pdf

Item:
Clarity of roles and functions between the General Election Delivery Taskforce
(Taskforce) and Incident Management Team (IMT) in managing disruptive
incidents
To:
Electoral Commission Board
For:
28 August 2023
Prepared by:
Anusha Guler, Deputy Chief Executive, Operations

Recommendations
It is recommended that the Board:
1.  Note the report entitled, “Clarity of roles and functions between the General Election Delivery Taskforce
(Taskforce) and Incident Management Team (IMT) in managing disruptive incidents” for their information.
2.  Note the difference in the roles and functions between the General Election Delivery Taskforce (Taskforce)
and Incident Management Team (IMT) to manage any disruptive incidents in accordance with the Incident
Management Framework.
Purpose
1.  The purpose of the paper is to inform the Board on roles and functions of the Taskforce and IMT across different
categories of incidents specified by the Incident Management Framework.
Background
2.  In preparation for the delivery of the 2023 General Election, the Commission has set up the Taskforce to provide
oversight management for the delivery of the General Election.
3.  The purpose of the Taskforce are as follows:
•  Monitor delivery progress, manage and support de-escalation of issues and risks within the TOR of the
Taskforce;
•  Provide effective collaboration and coordination of responses across groups; and
•  Escalate specific matters to the relevant governance group (e.g ELT, CE) if they are outside the mandate
of the Taskforce to manage.
4.  The purpose of the Incident Management Team (IMT) is to provide a coordinated response when the
Commission’s critical functions have been compromised. These events are likely categorised as a Level 3 Major,
or Level 4 Severe in the Incident Management Framework, although some events categorised as a Level 2
Moderate may also be escalated to the IMT. The IMT will be activated by the Chief Electoral Officer on advice.
5.  There are different categories of events/incidents/issues identified in the Incident Management Framework and
each structure provides a different level of response. This paper provides guidance to the Board on different
roles and functions across different categories as described in the Incident Management Framework.

1

Discussion
6.  Delivering any general election is a complex exercise and requires thorough planning and extensive governance
structures to support the operational delivery, the tactical support and decision-making responsibilities.
7.  The interdependencies of different oversight structures across the Commission are connected based on the type
of events and issues. How these events impact the critical functions of the Commission will require a different
oversight group to manage in line with the categories described in the Incident Management Framework.
General Election Delivery Taskforce (Taskforce)
8.  The Taskforce has oversight and makes decisions to support field staff to deliver the 2023 General Election. The
function of the Taskforce is to provide regular updates to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) on a day-to-day
basis and escalate/resolve any issues that may affect the election delivery.
9.  The Taskforce oversees all operational support at a national level and escalates issues when required to ELT
and/or Board to make a decision that is outside the Taskforce mandate.
10. The Taskforce only supports (and/or monitors) issues that are operational (BAU decisions), Level 1 Minor
incidents that affects teams and Level 2: Moderate incidents that affects groups as per the Incident Management
Framework (although there may be some incidents affecting groups that could be escalated to the IMT).
11. The Taskforce does not manage any Level 3: Major incidents that has a national impact or Level 4: Severe
incidents that involved the ODESC system/All of Government, but it may be kept informed from time to time and
will provide support if required.
12. When there is a Level 3 or Level 4 incident, the Taskforce focuses on areas that are not affected by the L3 or L4
incident and continues to deliver the election.
Incident Management Team (IMT)
13. The National Incident Management Plan (NIMP) clearly defines three levels of responses:
i.
A local response: which is led by a site lead. The Incident Response Lead is responsible for operational
decisions onsite.  At this level, it might be an Electorate Manager, or the relevant staff members (team)
depending on the incident. (Level 1)
ii.
Functional response: where an incident causes disruption to one of the Commission’s critical functions. The
relevant Business Continuity Plan (BCP) will be activated and led by the plan owner (group), who is also
responsible for requesting support from IMT if necessary. (Level 2)
iii.
National response: The Chief Electoral Officer will activate the IMT if the situation requires. The IMT will
manage the response to this incident. (Level 3)
14. The NIMP states that an IMT is activated by the following triggers:
•
An incident has or might have an impact on the safety and wellbeing of our people or members of the public
at one or more of our locations, and a response is not manageable within available resources at a site level.
In this scenario the IMT may activate either to monitor and support the local response, or to manage the
response from a national level. This will depend on the scale of the incident.
•
An incident has or might disrupt our ability to carry out one or more of our critical functions, for an
intolerable length of time, or a response is not manageable within available resource at an operational level.
•
An incident has or might cause significant financial and/or reputational harm to our organisation.
•
An incident has or might have a national impact on the safety and wellbeing of our staff or members of the
public.

•
An incident has or may result in an increase in requests for support, advice and/or information from the
Electoral Commission at a level beyond which our teams are able to manage within their usual resources.
These requests may come from lead and/or support agencies, Ministers/Government and/or media.
15. The Incident Management Framework prescribes the following supporting plans to support field staff and the
organisation across different levels of incidents:
•  Operations Manual, Incident Management Handbook and Personal Incident Manual
•  VP Incident Response Procedure
•  HQ Emergency Procedures
•  Unit Business Continuity Plan and Group Business Continuity Plan
•  Incident Communications Toolkit
•  National Incident Management Plan
•  GE2023 Business Continuity Plan
•  Adjournment Guidelines
•  Pandemic Plan
Scenarios across different incident categories, roles and functions
16. The table below provides different scenarios across different levels of incident as described in the Incident
Management Framework to provide a high-level understanding between roles, functions and who makes the
final decision to manage and/or de-escalate issues.
17. The table does not cover all types of incidents but provides examples of the escalation points, who specifically
manages the issues and where issues are escalated to if they require a response.

Scenario
Situation
Objective
Roles/Responsibilities
ELT/CE/ Board – Decision makers
Scope – Standard Operational Issue
Who – Courier driver company to inform
Outcomes: What are the critical elements +
Who makes the decision?
What is your role?
Background – Delay in delivery of unmarked
Electorate Manager of delay and possible
desired outcome/s
Electorate Manager to work with LSM as they have
ballot papers due to an incident on Election Day  delivery time.
Voting Places have sufficient ballot papers for  the ability to redistribute unmarked ballot papers
Notified through the Taskforce SITREP report
at the motorway and there will be a major
What – Electorate Manager to decide if Mobile  voting purposes.
around the electorate.
and further updates of the situation.
delay. Currently, there is only one major road
Support Manager could deliver some extra
The EM can use the delayed papers at HQ to

to Napier due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
unmarked ballot papers to voting places.
restock.
The process of escalation is provided in the Ops
INFORM - Members are only notified and no
Location – Napier
When – As soon as possible and as voting
With Napier’s road (single arterial road due
Manual – Chapter 15 Materials Tracking and
further action is required from ELT/Board.
People – Courier driver, Logistics and Supplies
place stocks get low, use the Mobile Support
to cyclone Gabrielle), RM and EMs are clear
Flowchart Movement of materials.

Manager (LSM), Electorate Manager, Mobile
Manager.
around turnaround time if this road is no

Support Managers
How  - Mainfreight’s advice is if roads become
longer usable, and have their mitigation
What is their role?

unusable there’s a 2 day delivery alternative.
process around logistics.
The Electorate Manager’s role is to assess the

stock level within the voting place and make the
call when to re-distribute unmarked ballot papers
stored at HQ and also make the call to utilise the
Mobile Support Managers while the courier driver
provides their status of their logistic plan/s.

INFORM - EM, who will inform RM, who will
inform National Office and GEDT through a daily
update report.
Scope – Level of incident categorised between
Who: Staff at the Auckland South Voting Place
Outcomes: What are the critical elements +
Who makes the decision?
What is your role?
Green and Orange in the NIMP (Level 1 minor)
were infected with a flu like disease and will be  desired outcome/s
Recruitment and Rostering Manager, Electorate

Background - Staff were infected with an
away until they are safe to return back.
It is a gradual disruptive event which can
Manager and Regional Manager.
Notified through the Taskforce SITREP report,
infectious disease (e.g influenza) and a number
What: The Voting Place is not operationally
escalate to a major issue. Two desired

monitor the situation and receive further
of staff are away. Getting additional staff from
running at an efficient level as it is a busy
outcomes:
Each unit has its own BCP plan. Further to that,
updates of the situation.
other offices to assist.
office with a large number of voters from
-
To get the office running at an efficient
there is also a National Incident Management Plan

Location - Auckland South, Voting Place
diverse backgrounds.
level,
to provide definitions of different levels of incident  INFORM - Members are only notified and no
People - Recruitment and Rostering Manager,
When: The Electorate Manager raises this with  -
Manage the spread of the infectious
escalation. In the NIMP, this is categorised as
further action is required from ELT/Board.
Electorate Manager and Regional Manager
the Regional Manager and suggests whether
disease
Minor to Moderate and suggests a local led

other Electorate Managers can roster staff and
response or activation of BCP.
As it is a local BCP plan, no need to activate
assist with the shortfall. Refer to Te Whatu Ora

IMT through the Incident Controller. CE
manuals and also activate local BCP plan as it is
Ops Manual – Chapter 17 – Rostering
approval is not required.
a minor to moderate incident.


What is their role?
The GEDT will monitor the situation and
•  EM – activate the local BCP plan to manage
response and escalate if required.
the spread of influenza on-site.
•  Work with staff to follow Te Whatu Ora
Manuals/guidelines.
•  Inform the Commission’s Incident Response
email and provide details.
•  Isolate unwell staff
•  Provide guidance to staff regarding cleanliness
in the office
•  Identify any possible spread and work with the
cleaners to disinfect the office site.

RM – To work with RRM and other EMs to find a
solution –rostering staff across the nearby
electorates and additional staff from HQ.
1

Scenario
Situation
Objective
Roles/Responsibilities
ELT/CE/ Board – Decision makers
Update the Taskforce that the local BCP plan has
been activated and a solution for supporting the
Auckland South office has been found.

INFORM – The Taskforce through a daily report.
Taskforce to follow up on actions, progress and
check in with RM for any additional support.
Scope – Security and Safety Issue Leel 2:
Who: An Issuing Officer has been threatened
Outcomes: What are the critical elements +
Who makes the decision?
What is your role?
Moderate)
by a member of the public.
desired outcome/s
Staff at the incident area as the threat was

Background– An individual threatens a staff

The Incident Management Handbook (IMH)
imminent.
Notified through the daily updates and
member at a voting place. There are intelligence  What:  The Voting Place Manager informed
outlines that the first priority is the safety of

receive further updates of the situation.
indications that this may be part of a
the Electorate Manager at the initial stage
people and property. If this is not under
Only inform their Electorate Manager when it is

coordinated disruption attempt.
about the situation and tried to de-escalate in
immediate threat, de-escalation options are
safe to do so.
INFORM – Once intelligence indicates a
Location – Invercargill voting place, South Island  line with the guidance in the Incident
outlined in the IMH. If these are not

possible larger operations, Chief Electoral
People – An individual, Issuing Officer, Voting
Management Handbook. But when it is
successful, the Electorate Manager is called.
What is their role?
Officer activates IMT to monitor the situation
Place Manager, Electorate Manager, Police,
escalated to a level where there was a threat
If at any point the situation deteriorates and
The Voting Place Manager is to assess the situation  and prepare response options if the situation
Regional Manager
to personal safety, the Voting Place Manager
puts safety at risk, the Police will be called.
on-site and follow the instructions in the IMH
escalates.

rang the Police (111 Emergency) and then

handbook and make the call as they are on-site.

updated the EM.
As there was a threat to safety to people and  Safety is paramount in this scenario.

staff, the objective was to ensure the safety
Communicate to their team, police and manager.
A partner agency provides intelligence through  of people and to immediately contact the
Manage the issue and de-escalate the issue using
the Chief Electoral Advisor indicating that this
Police to manage the situation.
their handbook.
event may be the first incident of a

coordinated disruption.
The next priority is ensuring lines of
Electorate Manager to inform Regional Manager.

communication with key partner agencies
Regional Manager to get advice from Regional
When: In the first response, the Voting Place
and preparing for all-staff comms if the
Security and Resilience Advisors on any extra
Manager contacted the Electorate Manager to
situation widens.
security mitigations that may be needed. Regional
inform them about the situation. When the

Manager to report to National Office for further
incident was escalated to an unsafe level, they
reporting to GEDT
called 111 Police.

INFORM – EM, who will inform RM, who will
inform National Office and GEDT through a daily
update report.

Chief Electoral Advisor to be the conduit for
feeding information from partner agencies into
the GEDT and advising the Chief Electoral Officer if
IMT is required.
Scope – Level of incident categorised as RED in
What - Staff from other electorates who were
Outcomes: What are the critical elements +
Who makes the decision?
What is your role?
the NIMP (Level 3: major/significant)
rostered to assist at the Auckland South Voting  desired outcome/s
GEDT recommends activation of IMT. Chief

Background – An outbreak of an infectious
Place have infected their own electorate
The spread was sudden and escalated across
Executive activates IMT.
APPROVE: The CE will need to provide
disease (e.g influenza) at Auckland South Voting  Voting Places teams across the region –
the region. It is at a significant level and has

approval to the Incident Controller to
Place has spread to wider electorates as staff
Auckland North and South Voting Places
compromised staff resourcing, voting, health
Incident Controller will need to assess the
activate IMT to manage, mitigate and
who were rostered to support the Auckland
electorates.
and safety and it is a prolonged event. This
situation and then seek approval from the Chief
deescalate the event.
South office unknowingly had spread the
When - This is during the advance voting
trigger will require the activation of IMT as it
Executive to activate IMT.

infectious disease back to their own electorates.  period.
is above and beyond the limits of the current

INFORM: The Board will be informed of the
This is now categorised as a significant event as
How - Clear steps were provided to mitigate
team/s to manage the spread.
What is their role?
steps taken by IMT through regular SITREP
5 other electorates have been infected.
the Auckland South site but unfortunately,

Incident Controller to seek approval from CE.
updates.
Location – Multiple electorates across Auckland  staff unknowingly were infected and were not
The desired outcomes:
Set-up IMT to provide manage the event through
North and South region.
aware even though steps were taken and had
-
Manage and stop the spread referring to
different phases of the situation:
People – Staff across 5 electorates and
spread it back to their own electorate offices.
Te Whatu Ora manuals and protocols,
-
Monitor
members of the public, IMT

-
Reduce the reputational risk to the
-
Respond
Commission as the public could view the
-
Recovery
Commission as not having the proper

Scenario
Situation
Objective
Roles/Responsibilities
ELT/CE/ Board – Decision makers
process to mitigate the spread and it
-
Deactivation
could have a major impact on voting,

-
Continue to open voting places with
For this incident, IMT will be in response phase.
appropriate staff support

-
The current Group BCP and resources are  The Taskforce will be informed by the IMT of the
not sufficient to stop the spread, quick
current situation.  The Taskforce will continue to
activation of IMT for further support.
focus on other areas that are not affected by the
L3 incident.

ACTIVATE – IMT to manage major events. IMT will
immediately set-up a team as per the NIMP and
respond to the situation and provide updates to
ELT and the Taskforce.

Scope – All of Government (Level 4: Severe)
Who – The Minister of Emergency
Outcomes: What are the critical elements +
Who makes the decision?
What is your role?
Background National state of emergency has
Management Minister Kieran McAnulty signed  desired outcome/s
NEMA leads the all-of-government response to the  INFORM: The Chief Electoral Officer will
been declared as Cyclone Martina whips
the declaration at 7.43am on 13 October.

national emergency.
inform the Board of the situation, risks
through the North and Central North Island

This is a national event which will require an

profile, mitigation steps, decision on voting
causing flooding, damage and wide evacuation
The National Emergency Management Agency
all-of-government response with NEMA as
The national controller has legal authority to apply  places, safety of its staff, agencies that will be
in many towns and cities. The Emergency
(NEMA) will be the lead agency to manage all
the lead agency.
further resources across the country and set
supporting event etc.
Management Minister Kieran McAnulty
the responses to the situation with the

priorities in support of a national level response.

declared a state of emergency at 7.43am on
Director of Civil Defence Emergency
NEMA advise the following:

APPROVE: The Chief Executive request the
Friday, 13 October 2023.
Management in command control.
-
Put safety first. Act quickly if water is
IMT will be activated to manage the Electoral
Incident Controller to immediately activate
Location – Cities and town in the North and

rising.
Commission’s response to the weather situation
IMT.
Central Island (Auckland, Hamilton, Northland,
What – The national event is across the
and implications for the continuation of the

Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke’s
country and is categorised as Level 4 severe in
-
Stay at home if it is safe to do so and
Election.
APPROVE: The Chief Electoral Officer can
Bay and Tararua District.
the Commission’s Incident Management
have an evacuation plan if your place is

exercise his powers under section 195A or
People – Staff at affected electorate voting
Framework. The National State of Emergency
unsafe
Chief Electorate Advisor will request and
195B to adjourn voting for specific voting
places, Voting Place Managers, Electorate
provides the national director of the relevant
-
If you have been evacuated, please stay
coordinate inter-agency support and nominate an
places across multiple cities. The Chief
Managers, Regional Managers and members of
government agencies and their national
safe where you are until you are given
EC representative to the National Coordination
Electoral Officer will need to seek approval
the public
controller legal authority to allocate further
the all-clear to go home
Centre (NCC).
from the Board if this is exercised as it is a 7-
resources across the country and set priorities

day national emergency.
-
Stay updated with the forecasts from
in support of a national level response. The
The Chief Electoral Officer will need to decide

MetService and advice from Civil Defence
national emergency period will last for 7 days.
whether to exercise his powers under section
APPROVE: The Board will need to provide
and emergency services

195A or 195B to modify or adapt and/or adjourn
approval to the Chief Electoral Officer to
The Beehive Bunker is the coordination centre.   -
Do not walk, play, swim or drive in
voting for specific voting places across multiple
exercise his powers to adjourn voting and

floodwater.
cities as it is a 7-day national emergency.
understand the duration of the adjournment,
The Commission’s IMT is activated by CE.

impact of this decision (e.g the formation of

IMT will be activated to manage the Electoral  What is their role?
Government is delayed), deferrals of release
When - During the advanced voting period 1
Commission’s response to the weather
IMT will be activated to manage the Electoral
of information of preliminary results, public
day out from Election Day.
situation and implications for the
Commission’s response to the weather situation
notification of the threat, mitigation process

continuation of the Election.
and implications for the continuation of the
to resume voting, safety and other relevant

Election.
steps and information.
Chief Electorate Advisor will request and

coordinate inter-agency support and
Chief Electorate Advisor will request and
The Board and ELT will have an oversight
nominate an EC representative to the
coordinate inter-agency support and nominate an
role.
National Coordination Centre (NCC).
EC representative to the National Coordination

Centre (NCC).
Prioritise safety of people and staff at Voting

Places across the affected area.
The Taskforce will focus on other regions that are

not affected by the L4 incident and continue to
Provide options for alternative voting places
deliver the election.
and resources required if it is safe to do so.

Scenario
Situation
Objective
Roles/Responsibilities
ELT/CE/ Board – Decision makers
The Election Commission’s role is to deliver
the general election or alternatively adjourn
voting at specific voting places where the
Chief Electoral Officer will need to exercise
his powers under section 195A or 195B as it
is a 7-day national emergency.

Comms will need to ensure the EC’s public
messaging aligns with NEMA’s messaging.

Consult with the Prime Minister and Leader
of the Opposition if voting day is adjourned
for specific voting places across different
cities.

Acronyms:

GEDT – General Election Delivery Taskforce
IMT – Incident Management Team
NIMP – National Incident Management Plan
BCP – Business Continuity Plan
SITREP – Situation Report
CE – Chief Executive
RRM – Recruitment and Rostering Manager
LSM – Logistics and Supply Manager
EM – Electorate Manager
RM – Regional Manager
HQs - Headquarters
IMH – Incident Management Handbook