SMS updates during local elections

From TTC: Mobile Advocacy Toolkit Working Meeting wiki

Task Force Poll Watch (TFPW) and Quick Count 2007 were among of the many election watchdogs ensuring impartial elections in the Philipines. Their tasks included documentation of election-related fraud and violence , ballot counting and producing results earlier than the Commission on Election. The watchdog covered all provinces and more than half of the total municipal canvassing sites with its headquarters in Quezon City.

In the case of Quick Count 2007, partners from the provinces were sending SMS updates on their local election count. Quick Count entered this data on its database for further anlalysis. Several regions reported discrepancies in tallying between the municipal and the provincial results.

In addition TFPW received reports of election fraud and violence via mobile phone, internet and facsimile. The task force was instrumental in discovering a supposed 100,000 votes shaved from 2 Senatorial candidates.