General Overview
In the case of multiple ballot elections (for example, presidential, national legislature, and municipal elections on the same day) an order of priority for counting these ballots should be given to avoid mistakes and confusion in the counting process. This should be part of the rules given to the counting officials during the training session and in the documentation of operational procedures for counting, see Manual - counting at counting centres - Bosnia Instructions should also be given for procedures to be used in cases where ballots are found in the wrong box.
Only one person should handle the initial sorting of ballots from a ballot box, usually the counting official in charge of that ballot box.
Spoiled ballots should already have been separated and sealed in an envelope attached to the ballot box. A spoiled ballot is simply one that a voter marks incorrectly and hands back to poll officials in exchange for a new ballot. Spoiled ballots should never be found in the ballot box.
Once the ballot box is open, the counting official or representative of political parties/candidates/option verifies the validity of each ballot in the process of counting. The official must be able to distinguish between a valid ballot and a counterfeit one by the watermark or any other mark made to identify valid ballot papers. Any counterfeit ballots identified should be set aside, counted and reported to the Electoral Management Body as an attempt at fraud.
The counting official, as he goes along, will divide all ballots by candidates/political party/option as they are counted. At the same time, he can determine all potentially rejected ballots and sets them aside. After the count of valid ballots is complete, the counting official must go one-by-one through the pile of potential rejected ballots and decide on the validity of each.
Potential rejected ballots, which are determined to actually be valid, are separated by candidate/party/option. All invalid ballots, as well as any counterfeit ballots, are counted and set aside. The counting official will then add to the initial number of valid ballots for each candidate/political party/option the additional valid ballots, and make a total count for each candidate/political party/option.
Rules of interpretation, guidelines, and illustrations regarding the basis for rejecting a ballot should be provided to the counting official, and be known in advance to facilitate the decision making process. In all cases, rejected ballots should be put aside and kept. No ballots are to be destroyed at this stage.
The separation of rejected ballots is important to create an audit trail of the count and is an essential component if there is to be a recount of the ballots. see Challenging Results Rejected ballots must be closely examined and the counting official should announce the reason for rejection of each such ballot. Political party or candidate representatives should be able to examine the rejected ballots. If political party or candidate representatives do not agree with the decision of the counting official, they should be able to make formal objections that can form the basis for contesting the results of the count. Clear rules must exist for recording objections made by representatives of political parties or candidates.
Once the spoiled, counterfeit (if any), and rejected ballots have been separated, the valid ballots can be counted. The representatives of political parties/candidates/ options, and other persons allowed in the counting centre for the counting, should be able to make their own count. The various representatives and national/international electoral observers witnessing the count must also be able to see each ballot that is counted. For more efficiency, other counting workers during the counting process could assist the counting official. It must, however, be very clear who is entitled to make a decision on the validity of any ballot in question.
