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Article 78
 

Keeping of the Records of Voters who Have Voted by Envelopes and the Counting of their Votes and Preference Votes for the Candidate


After the counting of ballot papers found in the ballot box, ballot papers received by post shall be calculated in the following procedure:


1) the chairman of the polling district electoral committee presents, unopened, all return envelopes received by post, i.e. postal voting envelopes of voters of this polling district who have voted at home and postal voting envelopes of voters who have voted early, received from the constituency electoral committee. The number of these return envelopes shall be announced and entered in the vote counting record;


2) return envelopes are opened one at a time;


3) a poll card is taken out of the return envelope, the voter’s surname and the number of the poll card is read aloud, these data are checked against the electoral roll of the polling district, and in the polling districts which are connected to the electronic electoral roll via electronic means of communication – also against the data of such roll. The ballot paper envelope shall be stamped with the seal of the polling district. If the person entered on the poll card enclosed in the return envelope is not on the electoral roll of this polling district; or if the voter has already signed the electoral roll indicating that he has already voted in the polling district; or if the electoral roll indicates that a consent is given for this person to vote in another polling district, or if another postal voting envelope has been received from the same voter; or if there is no or more than one poll card in the return envelope, or if there is more than one ballot paper envelope in the return envelope – such a postal voting envelope shall be recognised as inappropriate. The seal shall not be affixed on the ballot paper envelope (envelopes) enclosed in the return envelope which is recognised as inappropriate, the ballot paper envelope shall be crossed through, the word “Invalid” shall be written down on it and the reason for recognising the envelope as inappropriate shall be indicated. The ballot paper (ballot papers) enclosed in such a ballot paper envelope shall be invalid and the envelope shall not be opened. The content of the envelopes recognised as inappropriate shall not be taken into account in the vote counting record of the polling district, however, the number of these envelopes shall be entered;


4) in the electoral roll of the polling district, the words "voted by post" or “VBP” are written by the surname of the voter whose vote has been received by post and at home, while in the electronic roll in the polling districts connected to the electronic electoral roll it is indicated that a voter has voted;


5) the sealed ballot paper envelope is cast into the ballot box prepared and sealed according to the established requirements; and


6) when all postal voting envelopes have been inspected, the ballot box is opened and the sealed ballot paper envelopes are opened. If there is more than one ballot paper of the single-member and multi-member constituency in the postal voting envelope, all ballot papers in the envelope shall be recognised as invalid. Then the votes received by post shall be counted according to the requirements of Article 77.


2. If only one sealed ballot paper envelope for voting by post is in the polling district (committee), it, in order to protect the secrecy of voting, shall not be opened, and shall be handed over to the electoral committee, which has formed this committee, which shall enter the results of the voting in its vote counting record.


3. After votes cast in a polling station and by post for lists of candidates and candidates have been counted, all data have been entered into the vote counting record of a single-member constituency and the first part of the vote counting record of the multi-member constituency, the record and the first part of the record have been signed by the committee members, chairman and observers and the polling district electoral committee has announced to the constituency electoral committee that the votes for lists of candidates were counted, the polling district electoral committee may commence counting votes cast for candidates (preference votes). The polling district electoral committee may decide to count preference votes at once or, with the consent of the chairman of the constituency electoral committee, to count them at another time, but not later than within 24 hours. If it is decided to count preference votes at another time, the ballot papers to be counted shall, in a manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission, be transferred in a special envelope for safekeeping to the constituency electoral committee. In this case, the constituency electoral committee, after it has accepted election documents from the polling district electoral committee, must adopt one of the following decisions on the counting of preference votes in the ballot papers transferred to it:


1) to return ballot papers and to instruct the polling district electoral committee from which it has got the preference votes to count such votes;
2) to change the decision of the polling district electoral committee from which the election documents have been received, regarding the counting of preference votes and to instruct the committee of another polling district to count preference votes or to count preference votes itself. In this case, the constituency electoral committee must set the place and time of counting preference votes.


4. If the committee counts preference votes next day or recounts ballot papers, it shall, in the presence of at least 3/5 of the members, check whether the special envelope (envelopes) has not been opened. If the polling district electoral committee adopts a decision that the envelope has been tampered with or its contents have been changed, an act shall be drawn up concerning this fact, the envelope shall be packed, the package shall be sealed and the votes shall not be counted. The package shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee. The Central Electoral Commission shall be immediately informed about this. A decision pertaining to the counting of the votes which are in the package shall be adopted by the constituency electoral committee. Upon having ascertained that the envelope has not been tampered with, counting of preference votes shall commence. Information on the time and place of the counting of preference votes as well as in the event when the constituency electoral committee decides to recount ballot papers, must, not later than one hour before the commencement of the counting, be announced on two notice boards: one installed in the building in which the headquarters of the constituency electoral committee is situated, and the other in the premises in which preference votes shall be counted. When counting preference votes, election observers may attend and a police officer must be on duty. All ballot papers shall be put on tables on which no there are no other documents and writing materials ( except black lead pencils), and the committee shall check if there are all the ballot papers from which preference votes must be counted. The concrete procedure of preference votes counting shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission not later than seven days prior to elections. Votes must be counted in such a way that such procedure might be observed by all the persons present during the counting of votes and would be able to ascertain that votes are counted fairly and justly. Counted votes shall be recorded in the second part of the vote counting record of the multi-member constituency, ballot papers shall be packed, the package shall be sealed and transferred to the constituency electoral committee.