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Article 94
 

(Annex: by Article 10 of Law 5749 on 13 March 2008)


Voters who are registered in the foreign country resident voters registry shall be entitled to cast their votes at the polling stations to be set up at the customs gates during their entry into and exit from the country, starting forty-five (7th Article of Law 6304, amended on 18 May 2012) days before election day until 17.00 hours on election day.


The Supreme Board of Elections shall send the specially produced ballots and the ballot envelopes produced in special colours so that they are received by the relevant district electoral board three days before the start of the voting period at the latest.


Votes can be cast at the customs gates determined by the Supreme Board of Elections during the period starting 8.00 hours forty-five (7th Article of Law 6304, amended on 18 May 2012) days before election day until 17.00 hours on election day. The Supreme Board of Elections shall have the authority to determine which customs gates are open for the casting of votes 24 hours, including holidays, and which customs gates are open for votes for shorter periods.


The electoral board to be assigned temporary customs gate (7th Article of Law 6304, amended on 18 May 2012) and the number of polling station committees, the number of their members and alternate members as well as which officers shall constitute the polling station committee shall be determined in advance by the Supreme Board of Elections.


The polling station committees shall prepare an adequate number of closed polling booths so as to ensure that votes are cast freely and in confidentiality. The relevant administrative bodies shall facilitate the work of the polling station committees in every way.
Electioneering activities are not allowed at customs gates.


When the voters come to the customs gates to vote, the balloting committee chairman identifies the identification of the voter with an identification certificate bearing the national identification number of the Republic of Turkey, or official documents issued for identification verification purposes and bearing the national identification number, or a passport; and checks whether or not the voter has casted another vote through other methods on the Computer Aided Central Electoral Registry System. The voter determined not to have casted a vote takes the ballot and ballot envelope with the stamp of the balloting committee together with the “Evet (Yes)” or “Tercih (Preference)” stamps, and goes to the closed voting site in order to cast his/her vote; and completes the voting process according to general procedures. (7th Article of Law 6304, amended on 18 May 2012)


The voter shall then put his signature across his name on the list thus completing the voting.


At the time of the changing of the polling station committees throughout the voting period, the ballot boxes shall be opened as specified in the Law, the number of ballot envelopes and the number of voters who have cast their votes are counted to confirm that they match and this is recorded in the minutes.
The ballot envelopes and a copy of the minutes are placed in a bag, sealed and delivered to the relevant electoral board by the polling station chairman to be safeguarded.


After 05:00 pm on the election day, the ballot boxes and bags are opened according to the general principles, and counting and tallying procedures are performed by the temporary election boards of customs gates. The combination report of the temporary election boards of customs gates is issued, and this report is delivered to the Overseas District Election Council through the fastest means together with other documents pertaining to election procedures and petitions of objections, if any. (7th Article of Law 6304, amended on 18 May 2012)


The votes cast at the customs gates shall be accounted as per the relevant provisions of article 94/B.