(1) A voter wishing to vote by mail shall submit an application to this effect to the relevant diplomatic or consular mission of the Republic of Latvia and shall present his/her Latvian citizen’s passport. In the application the voter shall indicate his/her full name, ID number and the address to which the election materials should be sent. The voter may apply to vote by mail five months before election day but not later than three weeks before election day. If the Saeima elections take place according to Article 48 of the Constitution, the voter may apply to vote by mail one week after the elections are announced, but not later than two weeks before election day.

(2) Having received such an application, an officer of the diplomatic or consular mission shall:

1)  according to the presented passport, ascertain whether the person is a citizen of the Republic of Latvia who has reached 18 years of age and whether his/her passport does not already bear a mark about participation in the current Saeima elections;

2)  enter the name of the voter in a special voting-by-mail register;

3)  make a mark in the voter’s passport about participation in the current Saeima elections.

(3) If the application for voting by mail has been submitted without observing the deadline and the procedure specified in Paragraph 1 of this Article or if the person is not entitled to vote or if his/her passport already bears a mark indicating that he/she has already participated in the current Saeima elections, the officer of the diplomatic or consular mission shall decline to deliver election materials and shall justify the refusal. The filing of an appeal shall not nullify the decision.

(4) A voter who has registered for voting by mail may change the address to which the election materials should be sent not later than three weeks before election day by submitting an application to the relevant diplomatic or consular mission. If the Saeima elections take place according to Article 48 of the Constitution, the voter may change the address to which the election materials should be sent not later than two weeks before election day by submitting an application to the relevant diplomatic or consular mission.

(5) When the polling station commission starts its work, the officer of the diplomatic or consular mission shall transmit voters’ registers to the commission.

(6) Not later than 15 days before election day, the polling station commission shall send to the voter, at the address indicated in the voter’s application, a complete set of ballot papers containing the lists of candidates nominated for the Riga constituency, a ballot envelope bearing the stamp of the given polling station and a registration form containing information about the voting procedure and indicating the number assigned to the voter in the voting-by-mail register. If the Saeima elections take place according to Article 48 of the Constitution, not later than 10 days before election day, the polling station commission shall send to the voter, at the address indicated in the voter’s application, a complete set of ballot papers containing the lists of candidates nominated for the Riga constituency, a ballot envelope bearing the stamp of the relevant polling station and a registration form containing information about the voting procedure and indicating the number assigned to the voter in the voting-by-mail register.

(As amended by the 9 March 2006 Law, the 31 March 2010 Law and the 14 July 2011 Law)