Mail Voting in Certain Cases Act
2003:84
Enacted on 13 March 2003.
It is by decision of the Riksdag (the
Swedish Parliament)
provided as follows.
Who is entitled to submit a mail vote
Voters who are abroad or on board
vessels plying international routes may in accordance with this Act submit mail
votes in general elections or re-elections to the Riksdag, general elections to
County Council and Municipal Assemblies and in extra elections to the Riksdag,
elections to the European Parliament and referendums.
The provisions of the Elections Act
(1997:157) shall apply to mail votes unless otherwise follows from this Act.
How to submit a mail vote
A person who wishes to submit a mail
vote shall
himself or herself place a ballot
paper in a vote envelope for each type of election or referendum,
place the vote envelopes that have
been prepared in an outer envelope for mail votes in the presence of two
witnesses,
seal the outer envelope,
solemnly declare that the vote
envelopes and outer envelope have been prepared in this manner and have been
prepared abroad or on board a vessel plying an international route,
write his or her name and civil
registration number on the outer envelope for mail votes,
and
certify that the vote envelopes
have not been prepared any earlier than as provided in Section 6.
When the outer envelope of a mail
vote has been prepared in the manner provided in Section 2, the witnesses shall
on the outer envelope
certify in writing that the voter
has himself or herself signed the declaration and that they are not aware of
anything that would have the effect of the contents of the declaration being
incorrect, and
write their addresses.
Witnesses shall be aged 18 or above.
The voters spouse or children or spouses children shall not be witnesses.
This applies also to cohabitees and children of cohabitees.
How mail votes are to be sent
The voter shall when the outer
envelope has been prepared in the manner provided in Sections 2 and 3
place the outer envelope in a
window envelope for mail votes,
place either his or her voting card
or pre-printed address card or, if the voter does not have access to either, an
address card on which the voter has himself or herself written his or her civil
registration number and name,
seal this envelope,
write his or her name and civil
registration number on the window envelope, and
send the window envelope by mail to
the Central Election Authority.
When mail votes may be prepared
Outer envelopes for mail votes from abroad
or from vessels plying international routes shall not be prepared any earlier
than 30 days prior to the voting days of general elections or re-elections to
the Riksdag, general elections to County Council and Municipal Assemblies,
extra elections to the Riksdag, elections to the European Parliament or
referendums.
The Central Election Authority must
receive window envelopes for mail votes no later than the day after the voting
day.
The Central Election Authority shall
as and when window envelopes are received from abroad or vessels plying
international routes continuously record the number of window envelopes
received by the Authority and thereafter send the envelopes to the Election
Committee of the municipality where the voter is entered on the electoral roll.
How the election committee shall
process window envelopes
The Election Committee shall note in
its minutes when a window envelope for mail votes arrives at the Committee from
the Central Election Authority.
The Election Committee shall store
the window envelopes safely and securely until the Election Committees meeting
for preliminary counting of votes pursuant to Chapter 17 of the Elections Act.
(1997:157).
The Election Committee shall examine
the window envelopes and their contents at the Election Committees meeting for
preliminary counting of votes pursuant to Chapter 17 of the Elections Act
(1997:157).
When the Election Committee has done what
is provided in Chapter 17 Sections 3-7 of the Elections Act (1997:157), the
Committee shall examine the window envelopes for mail votes. The Committee
shall in that examination do the following.
1. Count the number of window
envelopes and note this in the minutes.
2. Examine the window envelopes. The
Election Committee shall in this examination verify that the window envelopes
have not been opened after having
been sealed,
have been sent by mail from abroad
or from vessels plying international routes, and
have been received by the Central
Election Authority no later than the day after the voting day.
3. Open the window envelopes that
meet the requirements in 2, extract the outer envelopes and verify that the
voters
are entitled to vote in the municipality,
have not voted at the polling
station during the voting day,
have not submitted any window
envelope in accordance with Chapter 8 Section 3 Sub-section 3 of the Elections
Act (1997:157),
and
have not submitted more than one
outer envelope for mail votes.
If the requirements set out in
Section 10 are satisfied, the Election Committee shall continue examining the
outer envelopes and check that they are sealed.
If the outer envelope is sealed, the
Election Committee shall in its continued examination verify that the voter
has on the outer envelope solemnly
declared that the voter has himself or herself prepared the vote envelope and
placed it in the outer envelope in the presence of two witnesses and that the
envelopes have been prepared abroad or on board a vessel plying an
international route,
has written his or her name and
civil registration number on the envelope, and
has certified that the vote
envelope was not prepared any earlier than as provided in Section 6.
The Election Committee shall also
verify that two witnesses have certified in writing on the outer envelope that
the voter himself or herself has
placed the vote envelope in the outer envelope and sealed it,
the voter himself or herself has
signed the declaration on the outer envelope,
the outer envelope has been
prepared abroad or on board a vessel plying an international route, and
the outer envelope has not been
prepared any earlier than as provided in Section 6.
If the requirements in Section 11 are
satisfied, the Election Committee shall open the outer envelope and check that
it contains a vote envelope,
the voter has only prepared one
vote envelope for each type of election or referendum,
there is no unauthorized mark on
the vote envelope, and
each vote envelope manifestly
contains a ballot paper.
The Election Committee shall in the
examination pursuant to Sections 1012
-
place the vote envelopes that satisfy the requirements in Sections 1012
in the ballot box for the relevant constituency and election or referendum,
-
note on the electoral roll for the election or referendum to which the
ballot paper relates that the voter has voted,
-
place the window envelopes that do not satisfy the requirements of
Section 10 Sub-section 2 second item in a special cover,
-
replace outer envelopes or vote envelopes that do not satisfy the
requirements of Section 10 Sub-section 2 third item and Sections 11 and 12 in
their window envelopes after the vote envelopes have been replaced in their
outer envelopes and place the window envelopes in a special cover,
-
note on every special cover the name of the constituency and the
municipality and the number of window envelopes the cover contains, and
-
seal the special cover.
This Act shall come into force on 1
April 2003 and shall have effect until the end of 2003.