Readiness and Mock-election Guide

1. Purpose

Readiness prevents a Commissioner from opening an incomplete or altered poll. Do not bypass it. The service is the authoritative check.

2. Appointment readiness

The election needs three distinct current core members: Commissioner, Secretary and ICT/Data Protection Commissioner. Appointments must use active users, valid dates and protected letters. Optional roles do not block opening merely because they are absent.

3. Register readiness

The register must be certified, unchanged and contain at least one active eligible voter. Participation markers must not exist before the binding poll.

4. Ballot readiness

There must be at least one valid position or question. Candidate positions require approved candidates and photographs. Multiple-seat positions must have sufficient candidates under the service rules. The final candidate list must be published where the nomination workflow requires it.

5. Self-mode consistency

No direct unlinked candidate may remain in a Self-only election. Complete every nomination decision and remove invalid records.

6. Fingerprints

The system computes fingerprints over the register and election configuration. Opening freezes the register/configuration snapshot. Changes after certification or opening are detected.

7. Mock-election procedure

1. Use a separate demonstration or mock election.
2. create test voters and all ballot types;
3. test each enabled verification method;
4. test invalid credentials and rate limits;
5. test maximum selections, required choices and abstention;
6. submit ballots and verify receipts;
7. test duplicate-vote prevention;
8. close, tally and reconcile;
9. test recount and approvals;
10. verify CSV, PDF, declaration and public archive;
11. test permission denials, read-only expiry and complaint routes;
12. record witnesses, findings and corrections.

Never carry mock ballots or credentials into the binding election.

8. Opening checklist

• approved source commit and deployment checksum;
• production backup and tested restore;
• HTTPS and server time correct;
• cron jobs running;
• email/SMS delivery tested where enabled;
• protected media inaccessible publicly;
• core officers present and briefed;
• incident and escalation channels available;
• no unresolved blocking objection under the governing rules;
• all readiness messages cleared.