All
ballots are unfolded (if envelopes are used, then all ballots need to be taken
out of the envelopes) one by one, and the counting officer makes sure that the
ballot is valid.
The
counting officer may call out the name of the candidate or political party for
whom the ballot has been marked and hold up the ballot for all to see. If
several persons are separating and counting the ballots, and identifying those
that may be potentially rejected, the practice of calling out names may not be
useful. It may, in fact, be more efficient to separate the ballots according to
choice (without counting them), setting aside the potentially rejections, and
then establish which ballots should be rejected. After the rejections are
finalized, the piles of valid ballots for each candidate or party can be
counted quickly.
In all
cases, only counting officers should handle ballots, and it is usually the
presiding officer who is entitled to make a decision on the validity of a ballot.
The
advantage of showing the ballot and calling out the result of each ballot is
that it allows the representatives of political parties and candidates and
observers to make their own count. The disadvantage is that the process is
interrupted each time a rejected ballot is discovered, which tends to make the
count of valid ballots very inefficient and slow. However, transparency and
credibility of the count is paramount and often outweigh the efficiency aspect
in many societies.
Whichever
method is used, the valid ballot papers are put in separate piles on the table:
one pile per candidate or per political party, or per option (in the case of a
referendum).
The
ballots should be examined in such a way as to permit observers,
representatives of political parties or candidates, and other persons allowed
in the voting station during the counting process, to see the ballot and ensure
that it is appropriately separated according to choice. They should have
controlled access to contents of sorted ballots, but are generally not allowed
to handle official election material.
If
political party or candidate representatives do not agree with the decision of
the counting officer, they can make official objections. These objections may
form the basis of a further challenge to the overall results.
While
transparency of the process is important, there should be proper controls on
the movement of ballots to ensure that the integrity of the count is not
compromised.
