The following case study is a step-by-step description of the vote counting process in the legislative elections where voting took place over 2 days, the 24th and 25th of June 2000. In addition to describe the vote counting process, it aims to highlight critical areas and suggest recommendations. All the counting officials involved in the legislative elections worked approximately 72 hours without almost any breaks. Considering the length of work, the need for an organised food delivery system, as well as sleeping arrangement, is crucial.
Appointment and Training of Counting Officials
The Electoral Act establishes the Registrar-General of Elections as the central election authority responsible for the administration of the elections in Zimbabwe. Functions which fall under his office include the appointment of the counting officials as well as the counting of ballots. The Registrar General works together with civil servants at the national, provincial, constituency and local levels in managing and administering the electoral process. For each constituency there is a Constituency Registrar, a Deputy Constituency Registrar, and one or more Assistant Constituency Registrars, all temporary seconded to the elections from the Civil Service. The Constituency Registrar establishes as many fixed, as well as mobile, polling stations as he/she considers necessary to make convenient access possible. In addition, the Constituency Registrar is responsible for managing the counting center for the constituency.
The Constituency Registrar serves as the Chief Election Officer for that constituency and appoints a Presiding Officer to manage each polling station in the constituency. For this national election, there were approximately 36 000 temporary polling officials to cover the 120 constituencies and about 4500 polling stations. Since votes were counted at the constituency level, there were a total of 120 counting centers, where the Presiding Officers doubled their role to include counting duties as well.
The Constituency Registrar trained all the Presiding Officers in one constituency. The training focused mainly on the polling since the counting procedure was to be held under the direct supervision of the Constituency Registrar in the counting center. Therefore, he/she concentrated the training on the polling where the Presiding Officers would be without guidance. The Constituency Registrars themselves were trained by the Registrar General´s Office.
The Presiding Officers/counting officials, (as well as the polling officials, polling agents and local monitors), were towork on both election days and stay overnight with the ballot box in the polling station one or two nights in order to ensure its security. Depending on location and distance from the counting centre, the transportation of the ballot box took place either on the evening of the second polling day or in the morning the following day. At some counting centres the counting officials were offered to buy catered food, whereas in others they were provided with food by relatives and/or friends.
Vote Counting
The counting of ballots took place on the day immediately following the two days of voting. At the close of poll, the Presiding Officer sealed the openings in the ballot boxes, and allowed Candidates and Polling Agents (party representatives) to affix their seals. Thereafter, the following material were placed together in separate packets:
- the unused and spoiled ballot papers including counterfoils of the unused ballots;
- the counterfoils of the used ballot papers, including the counterfoils of the spoiled ballot papers;
- the voter rolls; and
- lists including name and reason of voters not allowed to vote.
The ballots and the packets were transported by the Presiding Officer to the Constituency-Registrar together with the Presiding Officer´s statement specifying the total number of ballot papers entrusted to his/her polling station and the sub-totals of used, unused and spoiled papers. Efforts were made to enable election monitors (domestic observers), and polling agents to travel with the ballot box to the counting centre. Due to different conditions for transport of the ballot boxes, the time fixed for the start of the count varied from constituency to constituency.
The counting was divided into two phases; the verification phase and the counting phase. During the first phase all Presiding Officers, Polling Officials, Polling Agents, and accreditated local and international observers were allowed inside the counting centre.
The Verification of the ballots at the Counting Center
The counting took place in a training center. The size of the room was equivalent to the size of two regular classrooms. During the verification of the ballots the room was crowded which made the system of control difficult to handle. The 38 ballot boxes were put on tables and were guarded by polling officials from respective polling station.
The Electoral Act allows voters not present in their constituency on election days to cast their votes through postal ballots. Such ballots must be applied for in advance. All postal ballots must be accompanied by a signed and witnessed legal statement insuring that the person casting the ballot is the correct individual. In this election the main part of the postal ballots came from the 11,000 military troops stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Before the verification of the regular ballots took place, the Constituency Registrar opened the postal ballot box, counted the envelopes and opened all of them. The number on each postal ballot was verified against the number on the envelope. Then followed an examination of the declaration of identity which needed to be duly signed and witnessed. Therafter the postal ballots were put into an empty ballot box, to be counted at a later stage with the regualr ballots/ After the verification of the regular ballots, they were co-mingled with the postal ballots to ensure secrecy.
After the verification of the postal ballots, the verification phase of the regular ballots started. Each ballot box was opened individually. The Presiding Officer from the first polling station provided the information on the number of ballots cast in the polling station as well as the serial numbers of these. All the polling officials as well as the Polling Agents verified this information. After having ensured that the seal on the ballot box was securely intact, the Constituency Registrar opened the first ballot box. Five Presiding Officers were randomly chosen to count the ballots and put them in order according to their serial numbers. Thereafter, the number of ballots in the ballot box was verified against the number of ballot papers issued to the polling station. If the number of ballots did not reconcile, they were recounted until the result was balanced. If ballots were still missing, an agreement was signed by all Polling Agents to continue the verification.
Following the verification, ballot papers from all the polling stations, as well as the postal ballots, were co-mingled for the counting of the votes. The unused ballots were put into one box placed in clear view at a table. The Constituency Registrar completed a report of the verification for the Registrar General. Before the counting took place everyone present in the counting centre had to leave the room except five Polling Agents (one for each candidate) and at least five policemen. During a 15 minutes break, the furniture was re-arranged in order to assure sufficient light during the whole count.
The Sorting and Counting of the ballots
During the sorting and counting process, the following persons were permitted to attend:
- one polling agent per candidate or the candidates themselves;
- two local monitors; and
- accreditated internationl observers.
One Counting Official (the Presiding Officer or one of the polling officials) from each polling station acted as Counting Officials. Everyone attending the sorting process and the count was required to stay inside the counting centre during the whole count in order to avoid leaks of the result before the actual count was finished. The sorting process began when the Constituency Registrar opened the ballot box/boxes with the mixed ballots and put them on a table. Then Counting Officials divided the ballots according to candidate. Ballots where the indication of the voter was not clear were put aside and dealt with after all other ballots had been sorted. All the polling agents checked the uncertain ballots and agreed by consencus whether or not to accept the ballot. Any of the following reasons caused rejection of a ballot paper:
- a ballot which did not bear the official mark of a Presiding Officer or the Constituency Registrar; or
- when the ballot was unmarked by the voter; or
- when the ballot was marked in such a way that the voter´s intention was unclear.
If the voter had indicated his/her preferred candidate clearly, by means other than a cross, the ballot could be accepted. If candidates or polling agents objected to the rejection of a ballot, this would be noted on papers which were placed in an envelope kept within the packet containing the rejected ballot papers. The rejected ballots were counted and thereafter put into an envelope together with the blank votes.
The Count
Following the sorting of the ballots, the counting started for one candidate at the time. The ballots were put into piles of 100 votes each. After having been counted once, the same pile was recounted by the counting official sitting next to the one counting the pile the first time. At the end of the count, the constituency registrar declared the candidate who had received the greatest number of votes to be elected as a member of Parliament. If there was an equality of votes between two or more of the candidates, the winning candidate was determined by the drawing of lots arranged by the Registrar General in the presence of a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court.
Post-Counting
After the counting was completed the constituency registrar sent by telegram, to the Registrar General, the results of the constituency election, including the name of the elected candidate, the number of votes received by the different candidates, and the number of rejected ballot papers. As soon as the names of the persons declared elected were received by the Registrar General and transmitted to the Minister of Home Affairs, the names were published in the Gazette together with the constituencies which they represented.
After the announcement of the results of the counting, the Constituency Registrar, in the presence of the candidates or their agents, put the ballots of each candidate into separate boxes and sealed them with his/her seal. The ballots were then delivered to the Register General together with:
- the unused and spoiled ballot papers and counterfoils of the unused papers which were packaged together;
- the counterfoils of the used ballot papers, including the counterfoils of the spoiled ballots;
- the voter rolls; and
- the lists containing name of voters who were not allowed to vote and the reason for this.
The Registrar General must retain all these documents for six months and then, unless otherwise directed by the High Court, destroys them.
Election Disputes
Following the announcement of the election results, a petition may be presented to the High Court by:
- any person claiming to have had the right to be elected at that election; or
- any person claiming him/herself to have been a candidate at such election; or
- by a registered voter in the constituency concerned.
Petitions must be filed within 30 days of the announcement of the result. If the High Court determines that a candidate was not duly elected and that no other person was or is entitled to the seat the seat shall become vacant until a by-election has been held. In recent elections, court petitions have become a more used method when suspicion of electoral irregularities exist. One notable case is that of Margaret Dongo in the 1995 parliamentary elections who filed a petition in Harare South, and won in the by-election. In the most recent elections, approximateley 20 petitions have been filed to the High Court which have not yet been determined.
Lesson Learned
- Zimbabwe should continue with the training course for the Presiding officers and ensure that all of them are informed about the current regulations. Since the counting is led by the Constituency-Registrar in a common counting centre with all the counting officials present, it is understandable that the main part of the training should continue to concentrate on the polling. If possible, training should preferably be conducted continuously to ensure professionalism of the electoral administration.
- The extensive electoral experience as well as the strong integrity of the counting officials contributed to the highly professional way in which the counting was conducted.
- There did not seem to exist a systematical plan to provide the counting officials with food and water. Wellrested and fed counting officials are a prerequisite for alertness in their tasks. For example, to establish a system of rotating breaks and provision of food and water to the counting officials as part of their entitlements seems to be a good investment.
