Organization and Procedure of Voting
1. Voting shall be conducted on Election Day from 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. without break. At foreign polling stations, voting shall be conducted according to the local time of a country where such polling stations are established.
2. A polling station commission shall be responsible for organizing voting, maintaining order in the premises for voting, assuring secrecy of declaring of voters’ will during voting. In case of committing offences which cause legal liability, the head or deputy head of the polling station commission shall have the right to invite an officer of the Ministry of Interior into the premises for voting, who should take an offender out of the premises for voting and take measures stipulated by the law toward such a person; after that the officer should leave the premises. Stay of the officer of interior bodies in the premises for voting in other cases is prohibited.
3. During voting at the polling station, two members of the polling station commission shall give a voter an opportunity to cast his/her vote: one member of the polling station commission shall hand over a voters’ list to voter for signing if the voter presents one of the documents indicated respectively in paragraphs 4, 5 or 6 of Article 2 of this Law, and if the voter’s name is in the voters’ list at the respective polling station. The second member of the polling station commission shall insert his/her name and initials and put his/her signature to a designed field of a ballot paper and a control slip, shall insert the number under which the voter is in the voters’ list into the control slip. A voter shall sign for receiving the ballot paper in the voters’ list and in the control slip of the ballot paper. After that, the member of the polling station commission shall detach the control slip from the ballot paper and issue the ballot paper to the voter for casting his/her vote. The control slip shall be kept with the member of the commission, who issued the ballot paper. It is prohibited to make any other notes on the ballot papers.
4. A voter may stay in the premises for voting for a time required only for casting his/her vote.
5. A voter shall fill in the ballot paper by his/her own in a booth for secret voting. Other individuals are prohibited to stay in the booth for secret voting when the voter fills in the ballot paper. The voter who cannot fill in the ballot paper on his/her own because of incapacity, upon giving notice of this to the head or other member of the polling station commission may use assistance of another voter, except for a member of an election commission, candidates for deputies, authorized representatives of parties (blocs), official observers.
6. In order to ensure voting of voters with visual impairments, the Central Election Commission shall produce stencils for ballot papers printed in Braille, two stencils per regular polling station. For special polling stations this stencils may be produced upon the submission of the district election commission.
7. A voter may not hand over his/her ballot paper to other individuals. It is prohibited to receive the ballot paper from other individuals (except for authorized member of the election commission who issues the ballot papers), encourage, or force voters to pass the ballot paper to other individuals by bribing, threatening or otherwise.
8. A voter shall make a mark “plus” (“+’) or another mark indicating his/her will, in a box in beside the name of a party (bloc), candidates for deputies of which he/she supports. A voter may cast a vote in favor of candidates of only one party (bloc) or support no candidate from any party (bloc). If he/she does not support candidate for deputies form any party (bloc), a voter shall put a “plus” (“+”) mark or any other mark indicating his/her will in a box in front of words ”I do not support candidates for deputies of Ukraine from any political party, election bloc of political parties”.
9. A voter shall put the ballot paper into a ballot box on his/her own. A voter who cannot put the ballot paper into a ballot box because of incapacity, upon giving notice of this to the head or other member of the polling station commission may authorize another person, except for a member of an election commission, candidates for deputies, authorized representatives of parties (blocs), official observers, to do so in his/her presence,
10. In the event of any damage to a ballot box during voting, the head and at least three members of the polling station commission representing different parties (blocs) shall seal it in such a way as to make insertion and collection of the ballot papers impossible. This ballot box shall be kept in the premises for voting in the field of vision of the members of the election commission and other persons present at the polling station during voting in accordance with requirements of this Law, and shall not be used until the completion of voting.
11. In the event that a voter made an error while filling in a ballot paper, such voter may immediately apply in writing to the member of the member of the election commission, who issued him/her with the ballot paper with the request to be issued with another ballot paper. The member of the election commission shall issue another ballot paper to such voter in accordance with the procedure stipulated by paragraph 3 of this Article, but only in return for the spoilt ballot paper; an authorized member of the polling station commission shall put the appropriate sign beside the voter’s name in the voters’ list, and shall certify with the signature. The spoilt ballot paper shall be immediately cancelled as unused by the member of the commission and an appropriate report shall be drawn up. The report shall be signed by two members of the polling station commission, who have registered the issuing of the ballot paper to the voter, and shall be attached to the voters’ list. During counting the votes the spoiled and cancelled ballot paper shall be counted as unused and shall be packed with the control slip in a package with unused ballot papers.
12. At 8 p.m., the head of the polling station commission shall announce the completion of the voting; after this announcement, only those voters who are in the premises for voting shall have the right to cast their votes. It is prohibited to continue voting after the time limits stipulated by this Law. When the last voter leaves the premises for voting, the premises shall be closed and only members of the polling station commission and such persons that are entitled by this Law to attend the meeting of the polling station commission shall stay there.
13. Immediately after completion of voting, the polling station commission shall transfer to the district election commission the preliminary information on:
1) the number of voters included into the voters’ list at the polling station for the moment of completion of voting;
2) the number of voters who received the ballot papers at the polling station for the moment of completion of voting;
3) the number of voters who received the ballot papers at the place of their stay;
4) the number of voters who received the ballot papers based on absentee voting certificates (for polling stations, designated for the voting based on absentee voting certificates).
14. At the polling station created on a vessel navigating on Election Day under the State Flag of Ukraine, at a polar station of Ukraine, a polling station commission may declare voting completed before the time specified by paragraph 1 of Article 83 of this Law, provided that all voters included into the voters’ list have already took part in the voting. Counting of the votes at such polling station shall be conducted under the procedure stipulated by this Law, immediately after declaring the completion of the voting and transferring the massage as referred to in paragraph 13 of this Article.
15. Polling station commission of the foreign polling station immediately after the completion of the voting shall transfer to the Central Election Commission preliminary information as foreseen by subparagraphs 1, 2 and 4 of paragraph 13 of this Article, using technical communication devices.
