Receiving Results from Several Counting Centres
The
national office of the electoral management body receives the interim results
directly from the counting centres.
The
person responsible for combining results from the counting centres will
directly transmit the progress reports for each electoral district, broken down
by voting station, and the cumulative statement of the vote for the counting
centre directly to the national office of the electoral management body. For
greatest efficiency, all counting centres are using a common software for
transmitting interim results to the national centre.
If a
manual system is used, 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, and all the
data is received.
Most
national-level results centres are computerized and therefore efforts are made
to pre-load the results system with software containing mathematical formula
checks, logical inconsistencies and triggers for extreme or unusual results
based on historical electoral data.
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.
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. In
most cases, both a primary and secondary number (often landline and a mobile
phone number) need to be secured and tested prior to Election Day. The phone
number should not be the same one used to call in interim results.
Special Ballot Counts, Mobile and Advance Voting
Counts
Special
ballots are usually returned to the head office of the electoral management
body where a special counting centre is established. These results will then be
reported to the central collection point separately, as in all other counting
centres.
Depending
on the rules of the system used and the logistics in place, the ballots
returned by mail might be accepted only a set number of days prior to election
day or right up until election day itself. If special ballots are accepted
right until Election Day, counting procedures should be designed so the
publication of results will not be delayed.
Depending
on the deadline given to return the special ballots, the counting may start
before Election Day, at the beginning of Election Day, or at the close of
voting on Election Day.
However,
counting these ballots may take a long time depending on the volume of ballots
to process and the procedures used.
Counting
special ballots before Election Day is common and generally recommended, but
special security is necessary to ensure the results are released along with the
results of ordinary elections.
The
ballot boxes for advance voting are safely kept at the counting centre until
the closing of ordinary voting on Election Day. The counting process for these
ballots starts at the same time as for the ordinary voting and are virtually
identical to the ones used for counting the votes of ordinary votes.
The
counting of votes from mobile voting stations may take place at the counting
centre and ballots are counted as any other ballots. These ballots should not
be counted until the regular closing time of voting on Election Day.
For all
cases - advance votes, special votes, mobile voting stations, etc. - if the
count takes place a few days prior to Election Day, representatives of
political parties and candidates and observers should be present for the
counting.
For the
purposes of creating separate verification and audit trails and for properly
reporting the results of advance voting, mobile voting stations, and special
votes, these unique voting procedures should not be confused with ordinary
elections. The difference should be made very clear with a distinctive
statement of the vote forms used for these types of ballots.
