In general, the major process components of vote counting
at a voting station are:
Following the closing of voting, ballot boxes are kept at
the voting station for vote counting. The following procedures are executed:
The
statement of the vote, or the results sheet, is compiled, signed, and
transmitted to a local office before being transmitted to the regional or
national level. Representatives of political parties and national and
international electoral observers can copy the results.
There
is no interruption in the process until the statement of the vote of the voting
station is released and sent to the local office of the electoral management
body. Once the counting process is completed, electoral materials are taken to
a local office for secure storage.
Interim
results are also sent to the national level and publicized. Special measures
and procedures need to be followed during the entire counting process in case
results are challenged. As with all other aspects of conducting an election,
there are administrative considerations, which are directly or indirectly
related to vote counting at voting stations. Each of these procedural
components has particularities and subtleties associated with its respective
processes.
At the
closing of the voting station, voting station officers and other authorized
persons such as party and candidate representatives and observers remain in the
voting station and start the counting process.
In some jurisdictions the voting station layout is changed to reflect a
layout more conducive to the counting process.
A first
reconciliation of ballots may be done before opening the ballot box. Spoiled
ballots are counted and put aside. Once the ballot box is emptied of its
contents, the validity of each ballot is verified and the ballots are sorted
into different piles reflecting the choice of the voter.
The
votes are then counted into valid ballots (by candidate/political party) and
rejected ballots (a ballot found in the ballot box is rejected because it was
improperly marked, or is not marked at all when a mark is required) (see
Criteria to Determine when Votes should Count as Valid). Clear rules of
interpretation or guidelines regarding the basis for rejecting a ballot should
be provided to the counting staff in advance, to facilitate the decision-making
process regarding rejections.
Representatives
of political parties and candidates should be able to examine the ballots, and
if they do not agree with the decision of the counting officer, be allowed to
make formal objections that can form the basis for contesting the results of
the count.
Using a
count sheet, all valid ballots are recorded, as well as spoiled and rejected
ballots. All ballots are counted and none are destroyed. A verification of the
count and a last reconciliation should be done before completing the statement
of the vote. The ballot box can then be re- sealed (with the new seal number
duly noted by party and candidate representatives and observers), and
appropriate counting documentation can either be enclosed or attached to the ballot box in a separate sealed envelope. Party and candidate
representatives should have the opportunity affix their seals or signatures to
the resealed ballot boxes.
The
results recorded on the statement of the vote will be communicated by the
counting official to the local/national office of the electoral management body
by telephone or whatever technical solution the EMB has implemented as part of
its Results Management System – including mobile phone, internet/web
application etc. Representatives of political parties and candidates, and
observers, if present, can make a copy of the statement, where the law provides
for such.
The
count at the voting station itself is now over, and all the electoral materials
may be transported to a secure local storage room. In the event of a recount,
all the prepared documents are needed, so elaborate precautions, and sealing
the ballot box contents, are important.
The
local/national office of the electoral management body totals the results
transmitted by all voting stations of the electoral district, as well as
results of any special ballots, advance voting, and mobile voting stations.
However, observers, party agents and media representatives should always be
able to trace the results from a single voting station through the tabulation
process and verify that the results remain constant, unless a recount prove the
results incorrect, or the results form contains mathematical errors.
A
proper audit trail will allow the electoral management body to maintain full
control, and ensure that possibilities of fraud via ballot box tampering are
extremely limited, and can be detected if attempted.
Numbering
each voting station, and using the same number for the corresponding ballot
box, is one simple method of implementing such a control system. Additionally,
the same number should appear on each form used at the voting station. The
importance of recording the history of each ballot box (recording ballots book
number, serial number of the seals, ballot box number, etc.) becomes clear in
cases of judicial recount.
[1] Cornell University Law School. "What are challenged ballots?". https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/5/2422.24
