Platform Methodology & Data Integrity
How our platform collects, normalizes, validates, and audits polling-unit-level election data from the INEC IReV ecosystem.
This platform is independently operated and is not an official INEC website. Results displayed are sourced from publicly accessible INEC/IReV election data and independently aggregated for public research, visualization, and analysis. They do not constitute an official declaration of election results. For official election declarations, always refer to INEC.
1. Data Origin & Ingestion
All raw polling-unit records and BVAS result sheet images originate from the publicly accessible Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Results Viewing (IReV) portal (inecelectionresults.ng).
2. Provider Adapter Layer
Data is ingested via an isolated ElectionDataProvider adapter layer. The system uses incremental polling to retrieve updated records without placing heavy request loads on primary servers.
3. Data Normalization
Raw JSON payloads and numerical vote fields are mapped to a standardized database schema representing state, LGA, ward, polling unit, party, and result sheet metadata.
4. OCR & Vision Extraction
Result sheet images undergo automated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert scanned hand-written or printed polling unit forms into structured party vote counts.
5. Automated Mathematical Validation
Every polling unit record is subjected to strict mathematical checks: sum(party_votes) <= total_votes_cast <= accredited_voters <= registered_voters. Any violation flags the record as FLAGGED.
6. Duplicate & Checksum Detection
Each result sheet image generates a SHA-256 cryptographic checksum. Duplicate sheets or reused form hashes across different polling units trigger immediate integrity warnings.
7. Human-in-the-Loop Verification
Records flagged for mathematical anomalies or low OCR confidence scores are directed to an internal administrative verification queue for side-by-side human audit against the original IReV image.
8. Complete Audit Provenance
Every administrative confirmation, edit, or rejection writes an immutable entry into audit_logs containing previous values, new values, timestamp, and user identifier.
9. Aggregation Engine
Local Government Area (LGA) and state leaderboards are computed dynamically from verified polling-unit entries to avoid manual tallying errors.
10. Transparency & Limitations
While our platform provides independent visualization and provenance tracking, INEC remains the sole official authority empowered by law to declare election results.