If official election results processed by an electronic tabulation system, at which level results are entered into an electronic tabulation system?

Election Commission of Bhutan: User Manual for the Compilation of Election Results via SMS Gateway using the Mobile Application (Poll Info), March 2018, accessed 29 October 2018

The SMS Gateway (2018)

The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) uses SMS gateway with pre-defined structured SMS messages to collect and consolidate Election Results and related reports on the Poll Day.

The short code number subscribed by the ECB with both the Telecom Operators (Tashi Cell and Bhutan Telecom Ltd.) for usage in the SMS Gateway is 2018. The Presiding Officer shall download and install the ECB Mobile App (Poll Info) onto their mobile phones during the Refreshers course, thereafter they must familiarize themselves with the Mobile App. It is a Mobile App used purely for composing and sending SMS Messages using the data fed in by the Presiding Officers.

The ECB Mobile App (Poll Info)

The ECB has deployed a Mobile App named Poll Info (available on Android and IOS) to handle the task of composing and sending structured SMS message (as per the requirement of the ECB). The Mobile App simplifies the process of relaying the Election Results and related reports on the poll day by the Presiding Officers.

This Mobile App shall be used by the Presiding Officers on the Poll Day for relaying of the Election Results from the Polling Station at the close of the Poll and also various other important reports such as the Two Hourly Voter Turnout Reports segregated by Sex and Age Categories as prescribed by the ECB.

Election Commission of Bhutan: Handbook for Counting Supervisor (2013), accessed 29 October 2018

Stages of Counting

The counting of votes will be carried out in four stages (refer Fig. 5.1). The first stage of counting will be in the counting center for the polling area. The Presiding Officer designated by the Returning Officer as Counting Supervisor assisted by the Counting Assistant will count the EVM votes cast in the polling station and transmits the result by SMS format to National Counting Center and to the Assistant Returning Officer and than to the Returning Officer.

The second stage of counting will be at the Demkhong Counting Center. Here the Assistant Returning Officer will receive the Postal Ballot Paper votes for the Demkhong. Thereafter the Assistant Returning Officer assisted by the Counting Supervisor will count the Postal Ballot Paper votes and consolidated it with the results of the EVM votes based on the result sheet received from the various counting centers. The Final Result Sheet so prepared will be immediately transmitted to the Returning Officer’s office at the Dzongkhag and than to the National Counting Center by Facsimile. The original will be hand carried and delivered by the Counting Supervisor in person.

The third stage will be at the Returning Officer office where the final result sheet of the various constituencies for different posts received from the Assistant Returning Officers throughout the Dzongkhag will be publish result of count and the same authenticated copy will be transmitted to the National Counting Center.

The fourth stage of counting will be at the National Counting Center where the final result sheet of the Demkhong of different Dzongkhag received from the Returning Officers throughout the country will be counted and consolidated.