Reconciling to Ballot Account Totals
It is recommended that a verification of the count should be done once the ballots of one ballot box are counted. This verification is usually the last one made before preparing the statement of the vote for the ballot box and transmitting the information to the person in charge of making the cumulative statement of the vote for the counting centre. This last verification is important to make sure that no ballots have been introduced or removed that would modify the results in favour or against one candidate/party/option.
This last verification includes comparison of the reconciliation done previously, both before opening the ballot box and when the ballot box was opened. The total of ballots for each candidate plus the rejected ballots, the unused ballots, and the spoiled ballots should match with the total number of ballots received at the opening of the polling station. This information was provided on the ballot account form completed at the voting station.
If errors are detected, the count sheet should be verified against count sheets of other counting officials working at the same table on the same ballot box. If the error is still not found, then all the ballots counted per candidate/party/option should be reexamined and recounted.
