OUR elections generally follow four stages: 1) voting at the polling precinct; 2) counting of votes and preparation of the election returns (ER); 3) conveyance of ER to the city or municipal board of canvassers (C/MBoC); and 4) canvassing and consolidation of election results in a ladderized manner which goes through the C/MBoC then through the provincial board of canvassers (PBoC) and finally the national board of canvassers (NBoC). All four stages generate a lot of election-related data sets resulting from observation of the processes.

With the implementation of the Automated Election Law, or Republic Act 8436, as amended by RA 9369, voting remained manual. Voters had to make their selections of desired candidates per position using pre-printed ballots. To make his selection for a particular elective post, the voter had to shade the oval to the left of the name of his chosen candidate. The voter then inserts his ballot in the voting machine, where internally, the machine 'reads' the ballot and translates the vote selections into what is referred to as a 'vote record' or the equivalent of 'taras' recording on the tally board and tally sheet.