RESULTS DATA FORMATS AND AVAILABILITY.2017Northcote District By-election

The VEC will be providing results in XML format for the Northcote District By-election. The results data files will be published at regular intervals on theFTP site for download by any interested party.

The following set-up files are available:

1. NorthcoteBy2017MediaFilePollingPlaces.xml

This file contains the Voting Centre information.

2. NorthcoteBy2017MediaFileCandidates.xml

This file contains all the candidates for Northcote.

The following results data files will only populate with data from 6.00 pm on election night:

1. NorthcoteBy2017mediafileverboselh_yyyymmdd_hhmmss.xml

These files contain results and have all the data within the file (e.g. voting locations, candidate names, party affiliations etc). These files will be generated at regular intervals on election night. Note: the yyyymmdd_hhmmss will display the date and time the files were generated.

2. NorthcoteBy2017mediafilelitelh_yyyymmdd_hhmmss.xml

These files contain results but not to the level of detail of the verbose file. The candidate information in these files will link with the candidate information within theNorthcoteBy2017MediaFileCandidates.xml. These files will be generated at regular intervals on election night. Please note that these files will not contain votes by Voting Centre.Note: the yyyymmdd_hhmmss will display the date and time the files were generated.

3. NorthcoteBy2017mediafilelitepplh_yyyymmdd_hhmmss.xml

These files contain results but not to the level of detail of the verbose file. The candidate and voting centre information in this file will link with the candidate and voting centre information within the NorthcoteBy2017MediaFileCandidates.xml NorthcoteBy2017MediaFilePollingPlaces.xml files. These files will be generated at regular intervals on election night.Note: the yyyymmdd_hhmmss will display the date and time the files were generated.

The VEC files closely follow the AEC XML standard for election data though the VEC files deviate from the AEC standard, as described below:

  • Candidate information will include only the candidate name, affiliation (party), ballot paper position and independent indicator. No personal information such as age, gender, address, profession or contacts will be provided.
  • Voting Locations will include voting location name and identifier only. No address details will be included. Addresses for voting locations are available on the VEC website.

In the results data files, the following results data will not be included:

  • 2CP results once a recheck has commenced (2CP on primaries can be provided)
  • Preference Distribution
  • Results by voting centre where a recount is called
  • Candidate vote totals by type (postal, absent etc.) if a recount is called, only the total will be available
  • Declared date (true or false only)
  • 2CP results if a recount is called (2CP on primaries can be provided)
  • Any "historic", "swing" or "percentage" values
  • Ghost candidates
  • Maverick indicators for 2CP
  • No state indicators (as all would be VIC)

On election night, we anticipate seeing the first results at about 6.30pm; the results will initially come in slowly but will build as the night proceeds. We are aiming for all counts to be finalised by 9.30pm though counting may continue in voting centres taking a large number of votes. The counting order at each voting centre will be:

  • District primary
  • District 2CP

All available early votes will be counted in the Northcote election office and all available postal votes will be counted at the Central Processing Centre located at the VEC.

These results will be included in the results files as they become available.

1