The Quick Count and Election Observation

THE QUICK COUNT AND ELECTION OBSERVATION
At each recruiting event, leaders provide a more detailed explanation of what
a quick count is and why it is important given the national political context.
They explain the overall timeline for organizing in preparation for elections.
Finally, they review specific requirements for the jobs that need to be filled.
Possible requirements and desirable traits include:
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• credibility as an impartial agent and commitment to political neutrality
throughout the process;
• ability to donate time;
• skills such as reading, writing, driving and using equipment such as telephones,
faxes, computers;
• physical requirements such as good vision and hearing, the ability to
walk long distances or stand on their feet all day; and
• expertise (for special projects) in areas such as the law, journalism, computer
programming, database management, teaching and accounting.
Even at this early stage, it is a good idea to present a code of conduct that
describes the rights and responsibilities governing observers. The code of conduct
is based on the organization’s mission and goals, requirements contained
in national electoral law and regulations, and international standards. 8
Is it essential to establish a database of all volunteers?
A recent innovation of quick count groups is to centralize biographical information
on the volunteers. It facilitates a number of tasks for the volunteer
coordination team:
• the production of volunteer identification cards;
• the maintenance of an overall picture of important milestones, such
as how many volunteers have been recruited, completed training, or
received observer credentials;
• the production of demographic breakdowns of volunteers by gender,
age group, language or ethnic group or geographic area;
• the rapid generation of instructions, requests, or diplomas to groups
within the volunteer network, or to the whole network; and
• printouts of contact information for the supervisors of observers who
do not make timely election-day reports, allowing speedy recovery
of missing data.
The database also can record interests of volunteers in various post-election activities,
which is significant for the group’s efforts beyond elections.
Of course, it is very important to consider security and confidentiality issues
around these databases and to take necessary precautions. However, experience
has shown that the advantages in most cases far outweigh possible problems.
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See Appendices 3 and 4 for more information on provisions that guarantee citizens the right to
observe elections. See Appendices 3D-E for sample codes of conduct from Sierra Leone and Bangladesh.