ACE

Encyclopaedia   Results Management Systems   Procedures for Vote Counting at Voting Stations  
Counting

Ballots (and envelopes where applicable) are bundled by groups of fifty, for example, in order to facilitate keeping a record of the votes counted. Depending on the number of political parties or candidates, and depending on the number of counting officers, each counting officer can be responsible for receiving and counting all ballots cast for one or more political party or candidate, Later, counting officers can exchange all ballots cast that they were counting and verify each other's totals.

Counting officers count all ballots, including spoiled and rejected ballots. Even if not counted as valid, these ballots are important for the audit trail and will be needed in case of a recount.

To eliminate possible objections over the validity of ballots, the counting officers should be provided with clear rules of interpretation of accepted marks on the ballot, and all reasons that should lead to the rejection of a ballot. Minimizing the interpretation made by the counting officers makes it easier to make the necessary decisions and reduces disputes over the validity of ballots.

If the validity of a ballot is challenged or objected to, then the presiding officer should be the only person entitled to make a decision, even if the other counting officers are involved in the counting process. In order to be more consistent in his/her decisions, the counting officer can put all questionable ballots in one separate pile, decide on all rejected ballots following the count of valid ones, and then add any additional valid votes to the appropriate candidate or political party.

Alternatively, the ballots can be separated first, the questionable ones decided, and then each pile can be counted. For each disputed ballot, the ballot should be numbered at the back. The same number should be written in the voting book along with the decision made by the counting officer.

Ballots (and envelopes where applicable) are bundled by groups of fifty, for example, in order to facilitate keeping a record of the votes counted. Depending on the number of political parties or candidates, and depending on the number of counting officers, each counting officer can be responsible for receiving and counting all ballots cast for one or more political party or candidate, Later, counting officers can exchange all ballots cast that they were counting and verify each other's totals.

Counting officers count all ballots, including spoiled and rejected ballots. Even if not counted as valid, these ballots are important for the audit trail and will be needed in case of a recount.

To eliminate possible objections over the validity of ballots, the counting officers should be provided with clear rules of interpretation of accepted marks on the ballot, and all reasons that should lead to the rejection of a ballot. Minimizing the interpretation made by the counting officers makes it easier to make the necessary decisions and reduces disputes over the validity of ballots.

If the validity of a ballot is challenged or objected to, then the presiding officer should be the only person entitled to make a decision, even if the other counting officers are involved in the counting process. In order to be more consistent in his/her decisions, the counting officer can put all questionable ballots in one separate pile, decide on all rejected ballots following the count of valid ones, and then add any additional valid votes to the appropriate candidate or political party.

Alternatively, the ballots can be separated first, the questionable ones decided, and then each pile can be counted. For each disputed ballot, the ballot should be numbered at the back. The same number should be written in the voting book along with the decision made by the counting officer.

To count the ballots, the counting officers use a count sheet. The representatives of political parties and candidates, and the observers observing the count may have count sheets as well. The official one is the one used by the counting officer in charge of the count.

The count sheet is used to facilitate the count. For each vote for each candidate or party a mark is made on the count sheet. If a mistake is made during the process, comparison with the count sheets of other counting officers can be made. If the mistake is still not found, the count should be restarted from the last point of agreement.

A verification of the count should be done once the ballots are counted. This verification is usually done before transmission of the interim results to the regional or local district electoral office. Verification is important to make sure that no votes were changed in favour or against one candidate or party. The total number of ballots cast for each candidate or party, plus the rejected ballots, the unused ballots, and the spoiled ballots should match with the total of ballots received at the opening of the voting station.

Once the counting process is over, the ballots are bundled and put back into the ballot box along with all relevant forms. The statement of the vote is often transported in a tamper-evident bag carefully attached to the outside of the ballot box. Both the envelope and the ballot box should be sealed before being transported to a secure local storage room. All these documents are needed in case of a recount and the use of precautions for sealing the ballot box contents are important to ensure that all materials will be available if a recount is required or officially ordered.

For greater security, the presiding officer, as well as a representative of the political parties or candidates sign the statement of vote form and seal the tamper-evident bag. The presiding officer should keep one official copy in case of loss.