Home > 1.3.2 Freedom of voters to express their wishes > HUNGARY - Act XXXVI of 2013 on Electoral Procedure
 
 
 
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Section 289
 

(1) The election office shall examine the voting documents that arrive before the deadline.


(2) When examining voting documents, the election office shall check received voting documents without opening the inner envelope containing the ballot paper. The content of the identification declaration shall be verified by the election office using the postal electoral register. If necessary, the National Election Office shall verify the content of the identification declaration by directly accessing data in the records of the identity document issued by an authority and through the records of citizens' personal data and addresses.


(3) A voting document shall be invalid if


a) the reply envelope is not sealed;


b) the reply envelope does not contain an identification declaration or an inner envelope;


c) the reply envelope contains several inner envelopes for the same election;


d) the inner envelope is not sealed;


e) the voter's information on the declaration is incomplete or the declaration was not signed by the voter;


f) the citizen is not listed in the register of postal voters;


g) the voter had already submitted valid voting documents;


h) the data of the voter indicated on the identification declaration – except for the derogation specified in (4) – differ from the data contained by the electoral register or by the records as defined in (2);  


i) the voting document arrived late.


(4) The voting document shall not be invalid if


a) the voting document is not in the outer envelope sent by the National Election Office;


b) the reply envelope is slightly damaged, but no document can be put in it, or can be taken out of it, nor can the data content written on the identification declaration or on the ballot paper be viewed without opening the reply envelope.   


(5) If the identity of the voter can be established beyond any reasonable doubt, the reply envelope shall not be invalid if the reason of the divergence in data as specified in (3) h) is due to:


a) a change of name in the meantime,


b) an error in an accentuated letter,


c) a variance in the writing style,


d) a geographic name indicated in a foreign language,


e) the omission, in data as specified in Section 278 (2) a), of one of several first names, the omission or the writing of the title “dr.”, the writing of the prefixes junior, senior, widow or other prefixes or the writing of their abbreviated forms, or  a data indicated in another language.


 (6) Shall not be considered as a reason for invalidity if the identification declaration does not contain the birth name of the applicant provided that it is the same as that which the applicant bears.


(7) Only a voting document whose identification declaration allows the identity of the voter to be established beyond any reasonable doubt may be considered as a voting document submitted by the voter as specified in (3) g).  


(8) If the identity of the voter can be established beyond any reasonable doubt on the basis of the identification declaration, the election office shall indicate this fact in the central electoral register.