The Quick Count and Election Observation

THE QUICK COUNT AND ELECTION OBSERVATION
information from the database: the precise location of the missing sample
point; the identity of the observer at that datapoint; the contact telephone
number of that observer; the name and contact numbers of the regional coordinator
for that datapoint; and the name and contact number of the back-up
private phone contact for that datapoint. It might be difficult to contact directly
the observers who are at the missing data point. They may still be at the
polling station and out of telephone contact, and there are a number of possible
reasons for why the data may not have been reported to the data collection
center by the observer. The particular polling station might have opened late,
and the observer may not yet have had the opportunity to gather the data.
Another possibility is that the observer may have tried to call the data collection
center while the data center phone lines were busy. Recall, though, that
observers are required to follow a three call regime to report each piece of
information. Call #2 should have gone to the regional coordinator and Call
#3 to the back-up private telephone. So the data recovery unit can begin data
recovery by phoning the back-up assigned to that observation point, or they
can call the regional coordinator. If neither has received the data from the
observer, the data recovery team alerts the regional coordinator so that she
or he can investigate the matter. The regional coordinator directs efforts to
determine the cause of the missing data, perhaps by involving a municipal
coordinator to recover the data for the missing sample point.
The regional coordinator
directs efforts to
determine the cause of
the missing data.
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The dotted lines in Figure 7-3 indicate the calls from the data recovery unit to
the back-up private telephones and to the regional coordinators. The process
of data recovery is a continuous one throughout election day. The sample
clearance unit has the task of identifying missing data points and alerting the
data recovery unit to the possibility that data may be missing for an entire
province or state. These patterns require immediate attention because they
suggest that there is a systemic problem in data retrieval. There may have been
a breakdown in the observation communications system, or they could indicate
a substantial and regionally specific problem in the administration of the
election. Either way, the task of the data recovery unit is to determine the
source of the problem and to alert the leadership about the scope and scale
of any such problem. This information also has to be relayed to the analysis
unit so that analysts are aware that possible adjustments may have to be made
in the weighting of the data for the final report.
Evidence of data retrieval problems usually becomes apparent after observers
have completed the task of reporting the Form 1 data, the first qualitative
reports that observers call in immediately after the first voter at a polling station
has cast a ballot. 5 These Form 1 reports provide an early indication of
where the observation effort is working and where it is not. The tasks of the
data recovery unit are, first, to determine why there are the missing data points
in the Form 1 phase of the observation, and second, to develop a strategy for
Form 1 reports provide
an early indication of
where the observation
effort is working and
where it is not.
5
Chapter Six, The Qualitative Component of the Quick Count, details the content and reporting procedures
for Form 1.