Guaranteeing election secrecy in small voting districts 

If the voting district has less than fifty ballot envelopes approved in accordance with section 63, or if there is good reason to believe that less than fifty people will vote in the voting district on the election day, the central municipal election board shall order that the advance votes and the election day votes are to be counted together. On such occasion, the election board does not perform the preliminary counting of the election day votes, but delivers the ballots to the central municipal election board for preliminary counting.

If there is good reason to believe that a total of less than fifty people will vote in the voting district in advance and on the election day combined, or if guaranteeing the election secrecy so requires, the central municipal election board shall in good time before the election day order and, in elections other than municipal elections, inform the constituency electoral committee that the advance votes and election day votes of the voting district and the advance votes and election day votes of another voting district or other voting districts shall be counted together. On such occasion, the election boards of the voting districts in question do not perform the preliminary counting of the election day votes but deliver the ballots to the central municipal election board for preliminary counting. (563/2015)

The election board of a voting district referred to in subsection 1 and the election boards of the voting districts referred to in subsection 2 shall, after the ballots have been taken out of the ballot box in a manner that maintains the election secrecy and counted, pack the ballots in a durable wrapping in the manner determined by the Ministry of Justice. The address of the central municipal election board, information on the contents of the consignment and information on the sender shall be marked on the wrapping. The consignment shall be delivered without delay to the central municipal election board. (218/2004)

The central municipal election board shall open the ballot envelopes of the voting district referred to in subsection 1 and the ballot envelopes of the voting districts referred to in subsection 2, and combine the ballots in them with the ballots given in these voting districts on the election day and, in addition, mix the ballots of the voting districts referred to in subsection 2 together. The central municipal election board shall perform the preliminary counting of these votes in compliance with the provisions of section 78, where applicable. In elections other than municipal elections, the central municipal election board delivers thereafter the ballots, the minutes of the meeting of the central municipal election board, and the election records of the election boards to the constituency electoral committee in compliance with the provisions of section 64, subsection 1. (563/2015)

The advance votes and election day votes of a voting district referred to in subsection 1 may, by derogation from what is provided in this section above and if the central municipal election board so orders, be counted together so that the chairperson or the deputy chairperson and one other member of the central municipal election board take the approved ballot envelopes containing the advance votes to the polling station of the voting district in question, open the envelopes in the presence of the election board and drop them in the ballot box in a manner that guarantees the election secrecy. This shall be done on the election day before the voting has ended. (218/2004)