The Question
This question is posted on behalf of Erik Asplund, member of the ACE Practitioners' Network
 
In the most recent election in Russia, a smart phone ‘observation app’ was developed to be used by anyone interested in observing the election (http://www.economist.com/node/21548934). Does anyone have more information about how it was used?  What are the pros and cons of allowing volunteer observers to use smartphone applications and record cases of fraud during elections?
 
More specifically, were there any problems with the app in terms of its quality and usability? How was the information processed and analysed and who processed the information? Was the information shared with all electoral stakeholders, for example, the EMB, and political parties? If the information was shared with the EMB, how was it verified? If evidence of fraud was reported through the use of the app, how will the EMB use this information? Lastly, has something similar been used elsewhere during an election?

Summary of responses
A smart-phone based app was also used in Albania in 2009, in connection with conducting a parallel count.

Although no other examples are given of smart-phone apps, numerous countries are cited as having employed SMS reporting by observers: Ukraine, Moldova, Benin, Burundi, Uganda and Nigeria. In Bhutan, the election management body uses SMS to report voter turnout.

Examples of related ACE Articles and Resources
Support and Advice:
• Election observation

External Resources
• SMS as a tool in election observation, MobileActive.org 

Names of contributors
1. Susanne Caarls
2. Kunzang Wangdi
3. Ola Pettersson
4. Ingo Boltz
5. Belinda Musanhu

Hello Erik,

Opora in the Ukraine uses sms reporting as well, and I have understood that Promolex in Moldova have used it as well.

Opora has developed a software programme that is used to receive and analyse encrypted text messages send via mobile phones from observers. They use a standard set of questions with predefined answers that the observer will text message to a central number at four set times on Election Day. Questions all have letters and the answers all are numbers, so that it is easy to read the coded message. Questions include: polling station number, number of voters on voter’s list, opening time of the polling station, have ballot boxes have been prepared in compliance with procedures, number of violations, number of invalid ballots? Answers to these questions are predetermined codes. A text message could then look like this: A0800B57C1980D1E0.

A call centre is set up to assist the observers in their work. Each volunteer is responsible for a specific group of observers. If problems are encountered the volunteer will call the observer to verify.

One important factor is to check if the coverage of the mobile telephone network covers the whole country; in some remote villages it might be difficult to get coverage, making it difficult for the observer to do his job.

I have send them yesterday an email because they had informed me last year that they were going to have a document, which included their experience with this system, translated into English, so I asked if it was already available. If I can distribute it freely, I can forward it to you.

All the best,

Susanne

Dear Susanne,

We are trying SMS for reporting of voter turnout every two hours and the result relaying on the day of poll to the national counting centre. We intend to use it for all our futre elections. We will appreciate receiving the  programme. 

With regrds, Sincerely,  Kunzang

Are you looking for examples of election observation through smartphones only? The last few years have seen a number of election observation or monitoring initiatives using ordinary cellphones, for example Benin (2011), Burundi (2011), Uganda (2011) and Nigeria (2011). 

I've attached a study on the Ugandan experience.  

Hey Erik, the opposition in Albania in 2009 also used a smart-phone based app to do a parallel count. Was sponsored by USAid at the time, who funded both technical assistance to the election comission (which is why I was there) and the parallel count. I think the technical team was from Bosnia.

Erik,

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, (NDI) has supported various civil society organisations to conduct Parallel Vote Tabulations (PVTs) also known as Quick Counts or Sample Based Observation(SBO) using mobile phone technology.  PVTs are projections of final election results using results from a random representative sample of a country's polling stations. They are an important way of assessing a country's results management system and verifying the accuracy of the results announced by the election management body. See http://www.ndi.org/node/12993 for the NDI Quick Count Handbook and http://www.mobileactive.org/sms-tool-election-observation for an article on sms as tool for election observation