The local electoral management body will receive the results directly from the voting station after counting is completed. They will then compile the results for the electoral district and send it to the national electoral management body by fax (or other means).

The counting officer will contact the local level of the electoral management body directly to communicate the results of each vote. For greatest efficiency, one general phone number or fax number should be given to counting calling the local electoral management body. It is important, however, that the phone system be installed in such a way that the calls follow-on to the next available device on that line.

Adequate phones or fax machines (as well as other electronic links) to cope with peak demands should be installed.

For more efficiency, the staff answering the phone at the local level should have a pre-printed form for recording results with the names of candidates and parties in the same order as they appear on the ballot paper. This will prevent confusion and mistakes in the data entry.

A list of the identification codes or passwords associated with the various voting stations should be provided to the staff as well. This means that the phone operators and those receiving the results need to have signed a confidentiality contract as they are dealing with sensitive information. Only the counting officers should communicate to the local/regional/district electoral management body office to transmit the results of the voting stations.

At the point where the results are received, one team should take care of the incoming results, and should transmit the information to the data entry person or the person in charge of combining all the results for the electoral district. A spreadsheet or a board listing each voting station should be prepared and completed as the results are received. Representatives of political parties and candidates, and the media should have access to this spreadsheet or board, so that they can observe the results as they come in.

Special measures should be taken so as to make sure that the same results are not given twice. Numbering the voting stations and corresponding ballot boxes is a simple way to avoid such confusion. If such a measure is taken, it should be done at the beginning of the election process, and this number should be used consistently on all forms used for the election, as well as on the ballot box. The use of this number will also facilitate the creation of an audit trail.

The local office of the electoral management body should send its compiled results to the national electoral management body in several stages to accelerate the process of releasing interim results. Then, the national electoral management body will compile, for each electoral district, a summary of interim results for the country.

Since interim results are not official results, in some countries it is not necessary for the electoral management body to compile preliminary indications of the voting figures. The media, exit poll organizations and non-governmental organizations compile and publicize the interim results while the electoral management body concentrates on compiling the official results and communicating them formally.

National Level

At the national level, the same type of logistics for receiving the results should be used, but on a larger scale. Also, when all the results are coming in at the same time, the staff responsible for the incoming results should first make a quick quality control check in order to verify if the results make sense or not, for example, whether or not the totals are correct.

A comparison with the number of voters registered on the voter's list to the number of voters who cast their vote is a simple and effective way to identify major mistakes.

A more exhaustive quality control procedure, for each electoral district and voting station, will be done when the final official results are compiled. Some electoral districts might need more attention than others, especially those that are the subject of intense political campaign activities, or those with a higher degree of administrative difficulties, such as a very high concentration of registered voters (the core of a large city, for example). On election day, these electoral districts might need to be monitored more closely by the national electoral management body.

At national level, receiving results from local/regional/district offices by fax is easier and more efficient than by phone. Whatever form is used for transmission of the results it should be standard in order to facilitate the collection of summary interim results.

The need for data entry source documents is critical if a computerized system is used to tabulate results. A global spreadsheet, either manual or electronic, with all the electoral districts listed can be completed as the results come in.

If a country is divided into several time zones, the results will come in at different times of the day at the national level (depending on the closing hour of the election), and the required staff should be carefully scheduled to be available when needed.

In case of an emergency, the head office of the electoral management body should always be able to reach their local offices, especially when results are coming in.

Whenever possible, a direct phone line should be set up within each local electoral management body, so that the national electoral management body will be able to reach the person (generally the district electoral officer) in charge at any time. The phone number should not be the same one used by the counting officers calling in their interim results.

Votes Cast at Mobile Voting Stations

The counting of votes from mobile voting stations may take place at the last station visited by the voting station officers, or at a local office of the electoral management body. These ballots should not be counted until the regular closing time of the voting on election day.

The location of the count of mobile voting stations should be known by representatives of political parties and candidates, and they should be present for the counting.