Handling of Unused Ballot Papers and Counterfoils

1. Precinct election commission members (other than the head of the commission, the deputy head, or other member of the precinct commission keeping minutes of the commission’s meeting, and the secretary of the precinct commission entering the data in the vote counting protocols of the election precinct for the nationwide election district within a single-mandate election district and for a single-mandate election district) may not use pens or any other means of writing from the moment of beginning of their work with the ballot papers during the vote counting.

2. Pursuant to Part 7 Article 84 of this Law, the precinct election commission members who received the nationwide election district ballot papers and the single-mandate election district ballot papers shall, in turn, publicly count the remaining unused nationwide election district ballot papers, and separately, the remaining unused single-mandate election district ballot papers.

3. The sum of the number of nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers issued by the aforementioned commission member to voters (based on the number of voter’s signatures on the respective sheets of the voter list indicated in Clause 2 and 3 Part 1 Article 88 of this Law) and of the number of remaining unused ballot papers should be equal to the number of ballot papers received by this commission member in accordance with the register of issuance of nationwide election district ballot papers and singlemandate election district ballot papers specified in Part 7 Article 84 of this Law. If these numbers are equal, then a member of the precinct election commission shall hand over the counted unused ballot papers to the head of the precinct election commission (or the chair of the meeting). The head of the election commission (or the chair of the meeting) shall enter in the ballot papers issuance register the number of unused nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers that were returned by the election commission member.

{Part 3 Article 89 as amended pursuant to the Law № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013}

4. In the event of a discrepancy between the numbers specified in Part 3 of this Article, the precinct election commission shall write a report indicating the likely reason for such discrepancy, pursuant to the procedure specified by Part 8 Article 35 of this Law.

5. The head of the precinct election commission (or the chair of the meeting) shall sum up the numbers of unused nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers and announce them separately. The announced amount of unused nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers shall be entered by the secretary of the precinct election commission (secretary of the meeting) in the respective vote counting protocols of the election precinct for the nationwide election district within a singlemandate election district and for a single-mandate election district.

6. If necessary, or upon request of a commission member, unused ballot papers may be recounted, but not after data on the number of such ballot papers has been entered in the respective protocols. The counting of the ballot papers shall be performed under the procedure established by Part 11 Article 82 of this Law.

7. The unused nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers shall be invalidated by cutting off the bottom right corner of the ballot papers. The invalidated unused ballot papers, together with the ballot papers indicated in Part 11 Article 85 of this Law, shall be packed in separate packages under the procedure established by Part 6 Article 87 of this Law. The inscription “Unused nationwide election district ballot papers” or “Unused single-mandate election district ballot papers” shall be made on the packages.

8. The precinct election commission members who issued ballot papers to voters shall, in turn, publicly count the counterfoils of the issued nationwide election district ballot papers and singlemandate election district ballot papers. A precinct election commission member shall hand over the counted counterfoils of the issued ballot papers to the head of the precinct election commission. The head of the precinct election commission (or the chair of the meeting) shall enter the number (counted by each member of the election commission) of counterfoils of the issued nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers in the ballot papers issuance register. 

9. The head of the commission (or the chair of the meeting) shall sum up the number of the counterfoils of the issued nationwide election district ballot papers and, separately, the number of counterfoils of the issued single-mandate election district ballot papers and announce them separately.

10. The precinct election commission shall check if the total numbers of counterfoils of issued ballot papers specified in Part 9 of this Article, separately for the nationwide district and for the single-mandate district, are equal to the sum of numbers specified in Parts 6 and 7 Article 88 of this Law.

11. If necessary, or upon request of a precinct election commission member, the counterfoils of the issued ballot papers shall be re-counted. The counting of the counterfoils of issued ballot papers shall be performed under the procedure established by Part 11 Article 82 of this Law.

12. If there is no mismatch between the numbers specified in Part 10 of this Article, the head of the precinct election commission shall announce this number as the number of voters who received nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers at the election precinct. The secretary of the precinct election commission shall enter this number in the protocols on vote counting at the election precinct for the nationwide election district within a single-mandate election district and for a single-mandate election district.

13. If there is a discrepancy between the numbers indicated in Part 10 of this Article, the precinct election commission shall write a report thereon in accordance with the procedure established by Part 8 Article 35 of this Law. After that, the election commission shall take a decision establishing the number of voters who received the nationwide election district ballot papers and the number of voters who received the single-mandate election district ballot papers. This number shall be announced and entered in the vote counting protocols of the election precinct for the nationwide election district within a single-mandate election district and for a single-mandate election district.

{Part 13 Article 89 as amended pursuant to the Law № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013}

14. The counterfoils of the issued ballot papers shall be packed separately, in different packages, under the procedure established by Part 6 Article 87 of this Law. The inscriptions “Counterfoils of nationwide election district ballot papers” or “Counterfoils of single-mandate election district ballot papers” shall be made on the packages.

15. The precinct election commission shall check if the numbers of nationwide election district ballot papers and single-mandate election district ballot papers received by the precinct election commission are equal to the sum of, respectively, the number of unused ballot papers for the nationwide election district or those for the single-mandate election district and the number of voters who received ballot papers. In the event of discrepancy between those numbers, the precinct election commission shall draw up a report thereon under the procedure specified by Part 8 Article 35 of this Law, stating the reason for such discrepancy established by the commission’s decision.