Comprehensive EOMs generate hundreds or even thousands of
checklists on election day. Collecting and analyzing checklists from around the
country at headquarters after the polls close in order to reach meaningful and
statistically significant conclusions, all in time to release a preliminary
assessment and hold a press conference within a day or two of voting, is
incredibly demanding. This pressure has inspired the development of faster
observation technologies. Several observer groups, including The Carter Center,
National Democratic Institute (NDI), Democracy International (DI), and others
now use mobile technologies in the field for missions. Each has three basic
components. First, staff design checklists online, similar to those on paper.
Then, observers complete and submit their checklists through mobile platforms
adapted for smart phones or tablets. Finally, software aggregates and maps
results, enabling headquarters staff to follow observer reports in real time.
Observation technologies allow staff to identify problems as
they occur and focus their attention on drafting statements instead of coding
checklist responses. They also provide quick yet powerful tools for presenting
the data collected in tables, graphs, charts, or maps. In addition, some
programs can prompt observers to correct errors in their submissions, and
broadcast messages or edited checklists from headquarters to teams already
deployed in the field.
The Carter Center piloted its mobile observation technology,
ELMO (Election Monitoring), during the 2011 elections in the Cherokee Nation
and Liberia.[i]
Since then, the Center continues to develop expanded functions for full
operational use by STOs. ELMO, like the technologies used by several
organizations, builds its user (observer) end on Open Data Kit, a customizable,
open-source form collector for tablets.
Using technology for observation can be challenging where the
technological infrastructure is limited. Missions should be aware of conditions
before deployment and have contingency plans in place. ELMO mitigates the risk
of losing connectivity by allowing observers to save their forms to their
tablets or to USBs until access is available. Staff also equip observers with
emergency paper checklists.
Another alternative where connectivity is limited is the
submission of forms by SMS. SMS reporting by 750 citizen observers in Indonesia
in 2005 as a replacement for unreliable land line phones, then by international
observers in an NDI pilot project during the 2006 Palestinian Legislative
Council elections, sparked a sustained NDI initiative aimed at supporting
citizen observers’ more widespread use of SMS reporting.[ii]
As Ian Schuler notes, SMS technology provided the first opportunity for
observer data to be delivered directly from the observer into a database,
without the cost or labor of an intermediary in a call center to receive and
record the information.[iii]
While a predecessor to tablet-based reporting, which allows for more
information to be viewed and communicated quickly, SMS remains the most
effective option in many less developed countries. For the 2018 DRC Elections,
the National Episcopal Conference
of the Congo
(CENCO), used ELMO to collect data from 40,000 observers deployed on election
day.
The next phase of technological developments in observation
will bring greater integration of platforms with methodological resources,
allowing observers, for example, to link relevant obligations to each checklist
question. User interfaces are already available in a variety of languages and
will soon make better accommodations for users with disabilities, making them
effective tools for more international and citizen observers in more places.
Observer groups also must determine how best to harness form-based technologies
for long-term reporting.
[i]
“About,” GetELMO (The Carter Center), http://getelmo.org/about.
[ii]
Ian Schuler, “SMS as a Tool in Election Observation,” Innovations: Technology,
Governance, Globalization 3, no. 2 (2008): 146, doi:101162/itgg.2008.3.2.143.
