To
ensure the safety of its contents, the ballot boxes should be resealed, with
all the ballots inside, before returning the boxes to the planned location for
ballot boxes already counted. This is very important in case of a recount.
In
certain jurisdictions, all forms such as count sheets, the voting record book,
and the voter's list are also put into the ballot box along with the ballots
before sealing. The ballot box's statement of the vote should not be added to
the other documents, but put in a separate tamper-evident envelope.
However,
this envelope should itself be sealed to make sure that no unauthorised person
has access to the results and any attempted changes can be detected by higher
authorities. A copy of the statement of the vote should already have been
transmitted to the person in charge of combining the results for the counting
centre.
Ballots
are placed in bundles, by category (candidates, parties, rejected ballots,
spoiled ballots, unused ballots, etc.) in the ballot box.
Once
all the ballots and relevant forms are in the box, the box may be sealed and
transferred to the planned location in the counting centre for ballot boxes
already counted. The seal number should be written on the statement of the vote
and attached, in a sealed tamper-evident envelope, to the ballot box.
Even if
all the envelopes are sealed, it is still important to reseal the ballot box.
In the event of a recount, all these documents are needed; thus the elaborate
precautions for sealing the ballot box contents.
If a
paper seal is used, for additional security, some jurisdictions require that
the counting officers as well as representatives of political parties and
candidates sign the ballot box seal.
