This question was posted on behalf of JD Mussel.

Original question: 

I am doing research on where vote counting is conducted.  Has any country moved from polling-station counting to centralized counting, or vice versa, during the last 50 years? Are there any examples, and/or experiences of this? Any information would be welcome, as would any sources for further reading.

Summary of replies:

Several practitioners shared the vote tabulation routines of Guyana, Ecuador, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and Kenya separately, contributing as applicable the rationales surrounding these countries’ practices.

In Guyana, vote counting is expressly completed at polling stations to ensure transparency and voter confidence in the results, with election officials locally certifying and publicly posting their tally in a conspicuous location.

Procedures are more varied in Ecuador: a routine vote count is conducted apart from the voting receiving board, either in a designated provincial office but sometimes a central election office. When a recount is deemed necessary (by judicial order, etc.), a recount takes place within a public setting in the presence of delegates taken from political organizations, the media, or involved citizenry to safeguard the election’s validity and the public trust.

A multi-level counting is routinely conducted in Colombian elections. Immediately following the closing of polling stations, local officials and witnesses, tabulate the votes on site followed by a re-check at the municipal/department level. Political parties can contest results or make claims at each level of review. The final vote, once accepted, is certified and publicized at the national level. 

The election laws of Cote d’Ivoire explicitly stipulate that votes are counted onsite at polling stations in front of representatives for each political candidate. Upon count completion, local results are publicly posted at each voting station. Votes are then compiled in a pre-determined location such as a local commission headquarters, a secure public location, or possibly the central election commission offices. Similar is the example of Zambia, which after their 2001 election, counting at the polling stations was enforced; this reform has been consistent in the past five elections and has made counting quicker.

Finally, Kenya evolved thrice from a system of physically assembling and counting individual constituents (called mlolongo) to initially a secret ballot with votes counted at a central authority. However, Kenya’s current system has secret ballots counted at the local polling place.

This summary of these respective national practices suggests a common thread: the safeguarding of election confidence and legitimacy corresponds with at least an initial voting review at the community level. Further resources that may be useful regarding the technological changes that impact the tabulation of results are: 

Cheeseman, Nic, Gabrielle Lynch, and Justin Willis. “Digital Dilemmas: The Unintended Consequences of Election Technology.” Democratization 25, no. 8 (2018): 1397-1418.

“The Use of New Technologies in Electoral Processes.” International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and Réseau des compétences électorales francophones (RECEF). Workshop report: Praia, Cabo Verde, 22–23 November 2017, (2018): 7-29.

Yard, Michael. “Direct Democracy: Progress and Pitfalls of Election Technology.” International Foundation for Electoral Systems, edited by M. Yard. Arlington, VA: IFES, 2010.

Contributing members:

Vishnu Persaud

Victor Hugo Ajila Mora

Francisco Barrera

Marguerite Yoli-Bi Kone

Lameck Ochieng Radigo

Nchimunya Michelo Silenga

In Guyana, legislative changes provided for introduction of counting of votes at polling stations to ensure transparency.  After the count, the Statements of Poll are attested to by the party agents present at the count and the Presiding Officer.  It is then posted at a conspicuous position at the Polling Station for public access and scrutiny. 

Counting of the votes at Polling Stations was introduced for Guyana's the 1992 General Elections.

En Colombia existen las siguientes modalidades de conteo y reconteo de votos:

1.       Escrutinio  de los votos en las mesas, inmediatamente se cierran la votación, lo hacen los jurados de mesa (jueces electorales), lo presencian los testigos de partidos para las mesas o colegios electorales. Esto esta normado por el código electoral colombiano. Se admiten reclamaciones presentadas por los partidos políticos.

2.       A partir del anterior escrutinio suceden otros mecanismos de conteo: pasan a reconteo y acumulación de votos por cuenta de un escrutinio superior (Municipios y Departamentos) y finalmente los escrutinios a nivel Nación. Esto esta normado en el código electoral, se hacen las reclamaciones sobre inconsistencia de resultados, por parte de partidos.

3.       El tercer conteo es la trasmisión de los resultados de las votaciones desde la mesa (numeral 1), donde se hacen las acumulaciones de los votos, este procedimiento no está regulado por normas, pero es el definitivo pues los resultados se dan el mismo día de las elecciones a unas pocas horas de cerrada la elección. No es vinculante pero se aceptan los resultados y generalmente no se comparan con los resultados de los numerales 2 y 3.

Saludos   

En Côte d’Ivoire, la loi stipule que le dépouillement se fait dans les bureaux de vote en presence des représentants présents des candidats qui reçoivent une copie du procès-verbal dressé sur place et les résultats sont affichés devant chaque bureau de vote.Cette disposition de la loi a pour avantage de rassurer les candIdats qui ont des représentants et peuvent à partir de leurs PV faire leur propre compilation et éventuellement des réclamations sur la base des PV en leur possession. 

Les lieux de compilation sont déterminés par l’organe en charge des élections. C’est en général dans les sièges des commissions locales où dans des lieux publics securisés. Quelque fois la compilation se fait au siège de la commission électorale.

Kenya has moved from " mlolongo" - a case where voters used to line up and be counted physically to a case of secret ballot where votes were transported from the polling station to a centralized counting station and now a secret ballot voting where counting is done at the polling station. You should come to Kenya and learn for yourself the interesting dynamics and stories  around the three cases.

Before 2006, Zambia had centralized counting which wasn't trusted over time as voters felt that results were changed during their transportation. So after the 2001 election, there were some electoral reforms among them being counting at the polling centre. This has been the trend for the past 5 elections and by-elections that have been held since the reform. So far, it is working well as it makes counting easier and quicker.