The quick count methodology applies statistical principles to a very practical problem—verifying an electoral outcome.¹ This chapter outlines those statistical principles and describes how they work together. The briefest way to present this information is to use the language of mathematics, and to a certain extent that language is unavoidable. The goal of this chapter, however, is to present the basic concepts in a non-technical way so that the logic behind quick count methodology is accessible to a general audience.

Quick counts cannot happen without well-organized and trained volunteer networks. Most of the hundreds or thousands of people that form these networks live and work outside the capital city and are not readily visible to the organization’s leadership, international donors and the press. Their often heroic efforts go virtually unnoticed. A case in point:

A quick count can be a technical success yet a public relations failure. All of the hard work is for naught if key audiences—civic leaders, political parties, electoral authorities, the international community and others—do not view the organization or the results as credible. When influential groups doubt either the motives of the organizers or the validity of the data, the quick count’s contribution to the election-day process is marginal to negative. For this reason, building credibility must be a priority for every group planning a quick count.

The success of a quick count hinges on groundwork laid early in the project. This chapter discusses the work that needs to be done in the first weeks of a quick count project. The key building block tasks are:

Citizens, technologists and civil society organizations across the globe are demanding more openness in government, including government data, so that they can ensure public institutions are more transparent, responsive and accountable. At the same time, election management bodies (EMBs) are making more electoral data public in a variety of ways. Citizens need to be equipped to advocate for and analyze election data, while EMBs can use emerging open election data principles to ensure they release election data in ways that are useful to citizens. 

Over four million citizens in more than 100 countries have engaged in nonpartisan citizen election monitoring since it started in the mid-1980s in the Philippines. Nonpartisan citizen election monitoring contributes to electoral integrity, defends political rights, mitigates potential for violence, helps create governmental accountability, deters and exposes fraud, promotes public confidence in elections and resulting governments as warranted, and strengthens citizen organization and participation in public affairs.