Observation Methodologies
Techniques and approaches for collecting evidence and assessing elections.
Stationary Observation (STOs)
Stationary observers remain at one assigned polling station for the full electoral day. They document opening procedures, voting process, closing and counting. Stationary observation provides continuous, detailed coverage of a specific location.
Roving Observation
Roving observers cover multiple stations within a defined area, providing broader situational awareness across a region. Roving observation is useful for spotting systemic issues, crowd behaviors and recurring incidents across polling places.
Sample-Based Observation (SBO/PVT)
Sample-based approaches deploy observers to a statistically representative sample, enabling generalizable findings. Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) and quick counts rely on carefully designed sampling and rigorous training to produce robust estimates.
Social Media Monitoring (SMM)
SMM tracks online narratives, misinformation, hate speech and rapid rumors. SMM teams document posts, screenshots and metadata, flag potentially dangerous content and work with ESR to verify and contextualize digital reports.
