A document or other type of communication informing the counting centre of the departure of the vehicle from a voting station should be made. This communication, whether it be through phone or fax, should provide the counting centre with the following information: name of driver, passengers, number of ballot boxes and respective poll numbers, ballot box seal numbers, compartment seal numbers, departure time, type of vehicle, etc. This document/information will be checked against actual information provided at the time of unloading the vehicle.
Quantities of ballot boxes and their poll numbers should be carefully checked. If discrepancies are found, they should be noted on the log and the electoral management body (EMB) should be informed immediately. If ballot boxes are missing, verification should be made with the departure point to ensure that the information provided at the time of departure did not change. It is possible that a ballot box may have been routed through another vehicle.
If the vehicle transporting the ballot boxes has a separate sealed compartment, the serial numbers of the seals should be verified against the information provided prior to departure. The driver should not break the seal unless an election official of the counting centre is present and has verified the number. All other steps mentioned above apply.
Once all the information is checked and verified, the official responsible for the receipt of the ballot box should sign the waybill and indicate the arrival and completion times and date. The driver and representatives of political parties/candidates/options who accompanied the ballot boxes should also sign this waybill. Each of them should be allowed to keep a copy.
If the driver cannot produce the waybill or the transportation form for the election official, special measures should be taken. Identification of the driver and passenger(s) should be verified against the information transmitted by phone/fax or other means. The license plate and the number of the seal on the vehicle compartment should be verified as well. If all this information is confirmed, the officials may proceed to the next steps. However, an entry regarding the absence of the waybill/transportation form should be made in a log book kept by the official responsible for receipt of the ballot boxes at the counting centre. In all cases, discrepancies should be promptly reported to the EMB.
