Where there are multiple ballot elections taking place at the same time (presidential, national legislature, and municipal elections on the same day for example), there should be an order of priority for the counting of the ballots, so as to avoid mistakes and confusion in the counting process. This should be part of the rules given to the counting officers during training and in the documentation and training manuals for counting.
Instructions should also be given for procedures to be used when ballots are found in the wrong box. In some countries, only one person handles the initial sorting of ballots; this is often the electoral officer who provided the ballot to each voter on Election Day. This is particularly important if initials are added on the back of the ballot.
Spoiled ballots should have been separated and counted as part of preparing the ballot paper account. A spoiled ballot is simply one that a voter marks incorrectly, or is somehow unusable, and hands back to voting station officers in exchange for a new ballot. Spoiled ballots should never be placed in the ballot box. In some countries, spoiled ballots are put in a separate envelope and are clearly marked as such. This is to preserve the secrecy of the ballot, as the voter may have indicated how they wanted to vote on the spoiled ballot.
Sorting Procedures
One way of sorting is as follows. Once the ballot box is opened, the counting officer verifies the validity of each ballot in the process of counting. As they proceed with the task, the official needs to be able to distinguish between a valid ballot and a counterfeit (by the watermark or other identifying mark on valid ballot papers). Any identified counterfeit ballots should be set aside, counted, and reported to the electoral management body as an attempt at fraud.
The counting officer will divide up all ballots in terms of the political party or candidate voted for. At the same time, the counting officer can separate all ballots that can be potentially rejected. After the count of valid ballots is complete, the counting officer must go one-by-one through the pile of potential rejected ballots, and decide on the validity of each one (see Criteria to Determine when Votes should Count as Valid).
Political party or candidate representatives should be able to examine the rejected ballots. If party or candidate representatives do not agree with the decision of the counting officers, they should be able to make formal objections that can form the basis for contesting the results of the count. There must be clear rules for recording objections made by representatives of political parties or candidates.
Potential rejected ballots that are determined to actually be valid are separated by candidate/party/option. All invalid ballots, as well as any counterfeit ballots, are counted and set aside. The counting officer will then add the additional valid ballots decided to the initial number of valid ballots for each candidate/political party/option, and make a total count for each candidate/political party/option.
Rules of interpretation, guidelines, and illustrations regarding the basis for rejecting a ballot should be provided to the counting officer, and be known in advance by all representatives of parties and candidates and observers, to facilitate the decision making process. In all cases, rejected ballots should be put aside and kept. No ballots may be destroyed.
The separation of rejected ballots is important to create an audit trail of the count, and is an essential component if there is to be a recount of the ballots. Rejected ballots must be closely examined, and the counting officer should announce the reason for rejection of each such ballot.
Once the spoiled, counterfeit (if any), and rejected ballots have been separated, the valid ballots can be counted. The counting officer can call out the choice of each voter, and show the ballot, so the political party or candidate representatives, and other persons allowed in the voting station for the counting, are able to see the ballot and make their own count. The various representatives and observers witnessing the count must also be able to see each counted ballot. For greatest efficiency, other counting officers can assist. However, it must be very clear who is entitled to make a decision on the validity of a ballot.
