NORC will screen and train teams of three independent coders to classify each ballot into categories based on the varying interpretations canvassing boards have confronted in manual recounts of machine-readable ballots. Each news organization will use the raw data to produce its own analyses and stories about what the uncounted ballots reveal. The data also will be released publicly within a few days after completion to allow academics, or any other interested parties, a chance to assess it as well. The pool has invited other news organizations willing to share costs to participate. Organizations sharing costs will get the first crack at viewing and using the database.
Plans call for the database to be complete within eight to ten weeks.
Use of three coders insures the highest level of accuracy and reliability in abstracting information from ballots. It makes it possible to guard against partisan biases and to judge the difficulty that canvassing boards encounter in trying to assess voter intent on machine ballots. Overvoted ballots may be viewed by one coder if an initial test using three coders shows that they are easier to read. The pool has requested elections officials in all 67 counties to segregate all ballots on which machines could find no vote, or more than one vote for president. Most of those ballots were not included in the certified vote totals.