Who is Civic Hive?
Civic Hive, established by BudgIT Foundation in 2017, is a platform that aims to promote civic technology and develop innovative solutions to improve the civic space in Nigeria. The platform is both virtual and physical, providing a space for partnerships and collaborations among civil society organizations, NGOs, media groups, and other stakeholders.
The primary goal of Civic Hive is to raise civic tech leaders and solutions in Nigeria. By leveraging technology, data, design, and collaboration, Civic Hive aims to build a community of active citizens and civil society organizations empowered to engage with government and public decision-making processes.
Civic Hive's mission is twofold. First, through technology, it aims to build a community of active citizens and civil society organizations that find the intersection between data, design, and technology. This community is empowered to engage with government and public decision-making processes, using technology to drive innovation and collaboration
Second, Civic Hive aims to improve the interaction between citizens and government by creating tech products that give the former a stronger voice in public decision-making and influence service delivery. By developing innovative solutions and promoting data-driven decision-making, Civic Hive aims to improve governance and promote transparency and accountability in Nigeria.
Why get involved in elections?
Civic Hive aims to create an interactive election map website that provides citizens with the opportunity to experience election results trends. We envision that this would incrementally strengthen transparency and accountability in the electoral process, especially concerning the timely release of results. Before delivering the live results component of our work in the ongoing election, we delivered a manifesto analysis, data-driven issues review, candidates’ profiling, civic education in four states, and partnership with youth-based organizations.
How do we collect data?
Our goal is to collate election results at the local government level collation center for the presidential, the senatorial district collation center for the senate, and the house of representative collation center for the federal constituencies elections to provide an accurate and comprehensive picture of its outcomes. By collecting and analyzing data from across these different levels, we can gain insights into voting patterns, identify trends and anomalies, and develop a better understanding of how the electoral process works in Nigeria. We are currently working to build a detailed electoral results data repository in Nigeria, in a more decentralized way, starting at the LGA level.
For the 2023 election results, The HallowMace Foundation and DEAN Initiative were contracted with providing the election results for the Presidential, Senate, and House of Representatives elections, as declared by INEC officials at the local government, senatorial district, and house of representatives constituency level, respectively.
What's our data validation plan?
To ensure accuracy, the results are validated by volunteers before they are uploaded into the interactive map at the backend. To achieve this, the HallowMace Foundation and DEAN Initiative established a robust data collection and management framework. This involves working closely with INEC officials to obtain accurate and reliable data on election results. The data is carefully scrutinized to ensure it is complete and accurate. All results received also include a scanned copy of the LGA collation, senatorial district, and HOR collation result sheets as signed by INEC and political party agents.
Once the data has been collected and transmitted to Civic Hive by the HallowMace Foundation and DEAN Initiative, Civic Hive conducts a second-level validation process to confirm that the right documents were sent to the portal. This involves recruiting volunteers to check the data for errors and inconsistencies. The volunteers are trained to recognize common errors (some volunteers uploaded PU/ward-level results) and correct or reject them where necessary.
How are results transmitted from the field to the situation room?
KoboToolbox is a useful tool for collecting and managing data, including results. By creating a custom form using KoboToolbox, agents input the election results at the local government, senatorial district, and the house of representatives constituency levels. The form is designed to include all the necessary data fields, such as the candidate's name, party affiliation, and the votes received. Once the data has been collected using KoboToolbox, it is uploaded to a central server and shared with the Civic Hive team. The situation room was led by the Civic Hive Project Lead, RoadMap to 2023 Election Project, with support from about 35 volunteers.
How are the results presented to the public?
Presenting the election results to the public through an interactive map with labels that describe the count and percentage of the top-ranked political parties when hovering over a state is a great way to make the data more accessible and understandable to a wider audience. By hosting the interactive map on a dedicated website, www.liveresults.civichive.org, members of the public can easily access and explore the data in a user-friendly and intuitive way.
What are the key components of the portal?
The interactive map is designed to display election results for the Presidential, Senate, and House of Representatives elections when users hover over each state. The results are displayed in a table format, showing the party with the highest vote count and their percentage of the vote.
In addition to displaying the election results, the interactive map can also show the number of house of representatives constituencies and senatorial districts won by individual political parties, represented by a dot within each state when users hover over a state. This can help users understand the electoral landscape in each state and how the results of the election may impact their local area’s the representation.
How should the public navigate through the portal?
Here are some detailed steps on how the user can navigate through the election portal:
- Go to www.liveresults.civichive.org using a web browser.
- Once the website loads, you will see the homepage with four cards labeled "Presidential," "House of Representatives," "Senate," and "Gubernatorial."
- Click on the card that corresponds to the election you are interested in. For example, if you want to see the results of the presidential election, click on the "Presidential" card.
- Once you click on the card, a set of tables will appear at the top of the page, showing the party with the highest vote count and their percentage of the vote for each state. An interactive map of Nigeria will also appear below the tables.
- To view the election results for a particular state, hover over the state on the interactive map. A tooltip will appear showing the name of the state, the top four ranked political parties, and their vote counts and percentages.
- If you want to see the election results for a specific house of representatives constituency or senatorial district, hover on the dot of the senatorial districts or house of representatives. A tooltip will appear showing the name of the constituency/district and the election results.
- You can use the navigation menu at the top of the page to access other website sections, such as election news and updates or information about the electoral process.
Can results change on our platform?
As regards the presidential and gubernatorial results, we collate results at the LGA level. This means that the final results are not out until the map shows that all LGA results have been collated. This also means that a map might reflect the color of a political party at the beginning of the collation exercise and change when the full results are announced. Also, note that INEC is allowed by law to change or cancel election results within 7 days after the declaration. Election results are complete when the red dot stops (beside the position being contested) ticking.
Do we rely on other third-party means for results?
Yes. If Civic Hive partners are unable to find election results, the organization relies on either partial or full data provided by trusted mainstream media platforms. After the election results, the organization will rigorously seek the complete results from INEC.