Once the statement of the vote for each voting station is completed, the counting officer should give a copy of the results to the person responsible for combining the results at the counting centre.

For greater transparency, periodic progress reports should be sent to the central office of the electoral management body. These progress reports should be sent by the electoral district officer and will enable the electoral management body to release results as they come in, after performing required checks.

Once all ballot boxes in a counting centre have been counted, a cumulative statement of the vote for the counting centre needs to be transmitted to the national office of the electoral management body. International practise now requires that the counting centre also reports the results by voting station thereby adhering to the accepted level of transparency for a results management system. This practice allows political party and candidate representatives to check the final results against their copies of the vote counting form, thus, strengthens the transparency of the process.

Communication of the Results

The progress report and cumulative statement of the vote for a counting centre should be transmitted to the office of the national electoral management body by phone (cellular or fixed line), or other electronic means.

For security reasons, a unique password or code should be provided to the person who will transmit the results, or other forms of ensuring secure transmission of results electronically could be considered. The electoral management body should issue this password or code on the day of the election itself. This code will reduce the possibility of impersonation, which will screen out unauthorised persons from transmitting incorrect or biased election results to the national office of the electoral management body.

For more security, and to detect any attempts at fraud, the original cumulative statement of the vote form should be sent separately to the central office of the electoral management body in a sealed tamper-evident envelope. This envelope should be sent by hand or by courier. Party and candidate representatives and observers should be aware of this mechanism and allowed to be present during transportation.

By sending the original, the electoral management body can verify the results against the one previously sent by telephone or electronically and ensure they are the same.

Alternative Methods for Communicating to the Electoral Management Body

If internet, cellular or fixed line phones are unavailable at a counting centre, alternative methods should be considered. Walkie-talkie or radio emitting devices do not require the installation of a phone line and are flexible and simple in their use. However, the error rate often increases when using radio communication something the EMB need to make stakeholders aware of when releasing provisional results. Satellite phones can also be used where appropriate, though the costs of the handsets and the service may be prohibitive.

However, their deployment should take into consideration the topography of the area to identify in advance any blackout regions where it is impossible to receive or transmit messages.

Again, appropriate training and identification codes should be provided to counting centre workers before deployment.

If it is not possible to use any means of wireless communication, the last resort is hand-to-hand delivery by election officials of the results to the electoral management body using tamper- evident envelopes. If this is not possible the last alternative is to designate a messenger, who should be a credible, authorised person.

As a general rule, electronic transmission should be utilised at the earliest possible point. For example, if a presiding officer is unable to use a cell phone to transmit results from the polling station because of poor coverage, he or she may deliver the results by hand to the local office. If there is cellular coverage at the local office, the presiding officer may now transmit results electronically.

The person chosen to transport the results should be accepted by counting officers as well as representatives of the political parties and candidates in advance.

Role of Print/Electronic Media

The media will likely compete to provide their forecast of the election results as quickly as possible after the counting process begins.

The counting centres are most likely locations for the media to base their reporting activities. Since the print or electronic media is considered a key element in a free and democratic society, it is recommended that they be given controlled access to counting centres, especially if the freedom and fairness of the election process is in question.

To keep control of who is allowed at the counting centre, proper accreditation should be given in advance by the electoral management body and media representatives should wear corresponding identification.

It is important that the disruption of counting activities is minimised.

Should the media decide to station their representatives at the national office of the electoral management body offices or at the counting centres, specific physical areas should be set aside to accommodate them.

If they require specific installations such as internet, they should make their needs known well before election day.

Usually, media should be allowed to have access to the same results provided by the electoral management body to representatives of political parties and candidates and observers.

The exponential growth in the use of social media has made it all but impossible for elections management bodies to fully contain the dissemination of results. Even where there are legal prohibitions on the publishing of provisional or interim results by, for example, television or radio stations or newspapers, the use of SMS, email, and such channels as Twitter, Facebook make it all but impossible to prevent the widespread dissemination of election results.

Accordingly, elections management bodies should reconsider the regulations in light of the ground realities. The trend towards early and complete disclosure of polling station results, in response to multi-media dissemination is visible.

Route of Statement of the Vote for Each Voting Station

Copies of the statement of the vote for each voting station should be provided to the counting officer, to the person in charge of combining results for the counting centre, and one should be in a sealed tamper-evident envelope attached to the ballot box.

Representatives of political parties and candidates present at the counting table, and observers should be allowed to receive official copies. Such copies can be made from a multi-part carbon copy form, or through the use of photocopy machine. Alternatively, multiple copies can be prepared by hand, but need to be signed by the appropriate EMB official.

The original copy of the statement of the vote for a ballot box should be attached to the ballot box in a sealed tamper-evident envelope. This is particularly important for the processing of a recount of the ballots, should it be required.

Route of Statement of Votes for Counting Centre

Copies of the voting results should be provided to the electoral management body (often the original sent in a sealed tamper-evident envelope), to the person responsible for combining results for the counting centre, and one posted outside the counting centre.

The representatives of political parties and candidates present, and observers, should be permitted to receive their own official copies.

Once the cumulative statement of the vote for a counting centre is fully prepared and transmitted to the national office of the electoral management body, a copy can be posted at the outside of the counting centre. This way, the same information and results are made available for everybody, and at the same time. Because witnesses are permitted to observe and scrutinise the counting process, results are public. The statement of the vote becomes a public document that is made evident once it is posted.