You should ensure that there is consistent and transparent communication about the collation of the result. If verification and/or counting is being carried out at a central venue(s) you will need to provide information to attendees about those processes.
Where individual local counts are held, you should collate the local verification statements and count totals from each constituent local authority and calculate the overall result for the constituency. It is for you to determine how best to manage this process in your constituency.
Where individual local counts are held, you should liaise with appointed deputies in planning and developing the process for collating, checking and approving local totals, and provide them with guidance on how this will work in practice. As a minimum you should develop and implement protocols as necessary for the communication of information between you, any appointed deputies and the staff working on the result collation process.
You should produce and share in advance templates of all documents which you will require appointed deputies to complete during the collation of local totals (whether electronically or in hard copy) to ensure that all information is recorded and transmitted in a consistent way and to provide a clear audit trail. Any system used should have a contingency in case of any problems or system failures. You should determine whether you need to put in place IT systems or programmes to facilitate this.
You should also make arrangements for testing the process and any supporting systems you intend to use, which should include at least one rehearsal of the process involving your staff and appointed deputies and their staff in order to ensure that everyone involved understands and is familiar with how the process works and what their responsibilities are. This will also enable any issues to be identified and resolved before the event itself.
The allocation of seats will be decided by you applying the d’Hondt calculation method to the overall total number of votes from all of the local areas. The completion of this d’Hondt calculation will enable you to declare the allocation of seats to the correct parties and individual candidates.