One way to separate valid ballots is to unfold all ballots, one by one.
The counting officer makes sure that the ballot is valid (see Separating Spoiled/Rejected Ballots for a discussion about spoiled and rejected ballots).
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 involved with separating and counting the ballots and
identifying those that are potentially to be rejected, the practice of calling
out names may not be useful.
It may
be more efficient to separate the ballots according to choice (without counting
them), setting aside those potentially to be rejected, and then establish which
ballots are actually to be rejected. After the rejections are finalised, the
piles of valid ballots for each candidate or party can be quickly counted.
In all
cases, only counting officers should handle ballots and it must be made very
clear that the counting official is the only person 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
considered is that it allows the representatives of political party and
candidates and observers to make their own count. The disadvantage is that the
process is interrupted each time a rejected ballot is discovered; this tends to
make the count of valid ballots very inefficient. It can also create a very
noisy environment and it could confuse counting officers working at another
table.
Whichever
method is used, the valid ballot papers are put in separate piles on the table;
one pile per candidate, political parties, or option (in the latter case for a
referendum).
The
examination of the ballot should allow observers, representatives of political
parties and candidates to see the ballot and ensure that it is appropriately
separated according to choice. They should have controlled access to contest
the validity of sorted ballots.
If
political party or candidate representatives do not agree with the decision of
the counting officers, official objections can be made.
While
transparency of the process is important, controls on movement of ballots
should always be the first concern of the counting officer.
