Unofficial
quick counts are a parallel counting mechanism that is important to distinguish
from exit polls. A quick count is a partial count of actual results (whereas
exit polls are simply a variation of an opinion poll), used to predict the
actual full result. A quick count may often be used as a means of forestalling
any manipulation of the results. For the media, of course, the interest is
similar to that of an exit poll in that a quick count enables them to run an
early results story.
Much
the same as with exit polls, it is crucial that media report quick counts with
precision and contextual information (what count actually measures, where, and
how the information was gathered).
