Procedures for Summarization of Voting Results in an Electoral Precinct
1. At 20:00, the Chairman of the Precinct Electoral Commission shall forbid the entry of voters into the precinct center, allow the voters already at the precinct center to cast their votes, after which he or she shall close the ballot box slot, ask all the persons, who have no right to be present at the session of the Precinct Electoral Commission, to leave, and close the precinct center. The Precinct Electoral Commission shall then start its session for summarizing the voting results. To this end, the Precinct Electoral Commission shall:
1) count the total number of unused, incorrectly filled and returned ballots, and cancel the ballots and unused ballot envelopes in accordance with procedures defined by the Central Electoral Commission, package them and stamp the packages;
2) stack the stubs of used ballots in sequence by numbers and count the number of these stubs, then package the used ballot stubs and stamp the package;
3) Revoked.
4) count the voters who participated in the voting (i.e. received ballots), based on the signatures in the voter lists, including supplementary lists, package the aforementioned lists and stamp the package.
2. The results of sub-paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be announced and recorded in the register. The Precinct Electoral Commission shall collect unused ballot envelopes, package them and submit to the Territorial Electoral Commission along with the bag of electoral documents. The Precinct Electoral Commission shall make a protocol on the number of voters who participated in the voting. The form of the protocol on the number of voters who participated in the voting shall be approved by the Central Electoral Commission.
The Commission Chairman shall open the ballot box, take one ballot envelope out of the ballot box, and announce out loud whether the envelope is of established specimen or not. If requested, the ballot envelope shall be passed to other commission members. If a commission member disagrees with the Commission Chairman’s opinion, then he or she shall raise an objection. Based on the results of a vote, if an objection is raised (the Commission member’s proposal is put to a vote), or based on the original announcement of the Commission Chairman, if no objection is raised, the Commission Chairman shall take the ballot out of the ballot envelope of the established specimen, announce whether the ballot is of non-established specimen, valid or invalid and, if it is valid, who is it for. If requested, the ballot shall be passed on to other commission members. In the event of disagreement with the Commission Chairman’s opinion, a commission member shall raise an objection. Based on the results of a vote, if an objection is raised (the Commission member’s proposal is put to a vote), or based on the original announcement of the Commission Chairman, if no objection is raised, the Chairman shall put the ballot in the stack of ballots cast for the respective candidate (party, party alliance) or, if there is only one candidate, in the stacks of “for” or “against” ballots. The ballot envelope is placed in the stack of ballot envelopes. Then, the Commission Chairman proceeds to take the next envelope out of the ballot box.
In the case if more than one ballot for the same voting event or ballot (ballots) of nonestablished specimen are found in a ballot envelope, then the ballot (ballots) shall be placed back into the envelope, and the envelope shall be placed in the package of ballot envelopes of non-established specimen.
If the ballot envelope is of non-established specimen, then the ballot inside that envelope shall not be taken out, and the ballot envelope shall be placed in the package of ballot envelopes of non-established specimen. Ballot envelopes of non-established specimen and the ballots inside them shall be cancelled immediately and packaged.
If a ballot envelope of established specimen contains one invalid ballot, then the ballot shall be placed in the package of invalid ballots, and the envelope shall be placed in the package of envelopes of established specimen.
These steps shall be repeated for all ballot envelopes in the ballot box. During the sorting of ballot envelopes and ballots, commission members shall not be allowed to make any notes, and they shall be forbidden from having any pens, pencils or other objects for making notes.
3. Having sorted all the ballot envelopes and ballots in the ballot box, in the presence of commission members, the Commission Chairman shall count one by one all the invalid ballots inside ballot envelopes of established specimen, ballots cast for every candidate and party (party alliance), or, if there is only one candidate, the ballots cast for or against the candidate. These numbers shall be announced and recorded in the register.
4. Ballot envelopes and ballots of non-established specimen shall not be taken into consideration when summarizing the results.
5. The counted and sorted ballot envelopes and ballots shall be packaged and the packages shall be stamped, in accordance with procedures established by the Central Electoral Commission.
