Where absentee voting in person is allowed on voting day, close of voting procedures will depend on:
• the method adopted for voting (from pre-prepared absentee voters lists or enveloped ballots, in designated absentee voting stations or at any normal voting station) and
• the number of electoral districts for which ballots may be issued at any voting station.
The following discussion relates to absentee voting in person on voting day. (For close of voting issues relating to absentee voting by mail, see Close of Voting for Mail Voting and absentee early voting at Close of Voting for Early Voting.)
Special Absentee Voters Lists Used
Where absentee votes are issued from a list of absentee voters at special absentee voting stations, close of voting procedures can be similar to those for a normal voting station.
However, separate ballot accounting records must be completed for each electoral district for which voters were registered to cast absentee votes. Reconciliations should be done for:
• ballots issued;
• unused ballots;
• ballot issue records;
• voters marked on lists as having voted.
As for early voting, there can be speed and control advantages in counting these ballots where they were issued, if management at absentee voting stations is sufficiently robust and skilled.
Particularly where ballots for large numbers of electoral districts have been issued, it can be safer, and more effective, to securely package all absentee voting material immediately following the close of voting and despatch it securely to a central facility for sorting to electoral district and counting.
Enveloped Ballot Systems
Where absentee voting procedures allow anyone to claim an in-person absentee vote on voting day, through a system of special enveloped ballots, close of voting ballot accounting should reconcile:
• ballots issued;
• unused ballots;
• ballot issue records;
• any applications required for absentee voting in relation to each electoral district.
If all absentee ballots are to be sent to a central location for voter eligibility checking and ballot counts, following close of voting, absentee ballots can be despatched in their sealed ballot boxes, and accompanied by ballot issue records, to the central count centre.
However, if these absentee ballots are to be returned to the voter’s home electoral district for eligibility checking and counting, a system parallel with that described at Close of Voting for Early Voting for dealing with early votes under similar circumstances will need to be implemented at close of voting.
Again the logistical complexity of such an exercise makes this method generally inadvisable.
