Procedure for Receipt and Consideration of Documents of Precinct Election Commissions by District Election Commission

1. Immediately after the end of voting, a district election commission shall convene a meeting that shall continue without a break until the results of the voting in the territorial election district are established. During this period of time, the members of the district election commission shall not be engaged in any activities other than participation in the election commission’s meeting.
From the moment when the voting ended, and till the beginning of receipt by the district election commission of protocols on vote counting at election precincts, the district election commission shall send the current information on vote counting at election precincts of the election district (hereinafter referred to as the information on vote counting) to the Central Election Commission via an automated information analysis system.

2. The meeting of the district election commission specified in Part one of this Article shall be officially recorded in the minutes of continuous meeting.

3. At the meeting of the district election commission specified in Part one of this Article, the head of the district election commission shall receive the sealed packages with the protocols of the precinct election commissions on vote counting; unpack them and announce the content of the protocols of the precinct election commissions on vote counting at the respective election precincts; and also receive the sealed packages with the other election documents specified by Part ten of Article 121 of this Code. The time of the receipt by the district election commission of the protocols of the precinct election commission on vote counting, the list of the received election documents, and the data entered into the protocol on vote counting at the election precinct shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the district election commission.

4. Immediately after the announcement by the head of the district election commission (or the commission meeting chairperson) of the contents of the protocol at the meeting of the district election commission, the commission member authorized by the commission decision shall announce the data of the protocol and respective reports (if any) for the system administrator who shall enter those data in the data base of the automated information analysis system to verify the correctness of the data contained in the protocol.

If the protocol is filled out correctly, the system administrator shall:

1) print out the information on vote counting relating to the respective election precinct, sign it and hand it over for signing by the head, deputy head and secretary of the district election commission (or the commission meeting chairperson), as well as the election commission members. The information on vote counting shall be immediately provided to the members of the respective precinct election commission, candidates for the President of Ukraine, their authorized persons, and official observers. The aforementioned information shall be stored in the district election commission until the termination of its powers and shall be transferred thereby to the local archival institution together with other election documents.

2) using the automated information analysis system, transfer the information on vote counting to the Central Election Commission.

The Central Election Commission shall immediately publish the aforementioned information on its official website.

5. When receiving the precinct election commission documents, the district election commission shall examine the completeness of the documents and the integrity of all packages containing election documents. During this checking, each member of the commission shall have the right to examine each package containing election documents. Based on the results of consideration of the precinct election commission documents and complaints concerning violations of the requirements of this Code during the conduct of voting and vote counting at the election precinct, as well as during the transportation of the election documents to the district election commission that had been received by the district election commission prior to the time period of the receipt of the precinct election commission documents, the district election commission shall accept the election documents from the precinct election commission and adopt one of the following decisions:

1) to include the data in the protocols on vote counting at the election precinct, when establishing the results of voting in the territorial district;

2) to oblige the precinct election commission to correct the revealed defects by drawing up a protocol marked “Corrected”;

3) to conduct a re-count of votes at the election precinct in accordance with procedures provided for by this Code.

The above decision shall be adopted by voting of all members of the district election commission, by an absolute majority of the votes of all members of the commission and shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the district election commission.

6. If any corrections, mistakes, or inaccuracies are discovered in the protocols of the precinct election commission on vote counting at the election precinct, which can be eliminated without re-counting the votes, the district election commission shall adopt a decision specified in clause two of Part five of this Article (if the content of such corrections, mistakes and inaccuracies cannot be ascertained without drawing up a protocol marked "Corrected"), or shall consider an issue about making changes to the aforementioned data with the purpose to eliminate the detected drawbacks without the re-count of votes.

As a result of such consideration, the district election commission shall make a decision documented in the minutes of the commission meeting, requiring the precinct election commission to introduce changes to the protocol on vote counting at the election precinct, to accept the said protocol with changes made and to include the data contained in the said protocol with changes made, when establishing the results of voting in the territorial district.

Such a decision documented in the minutes of the commission shall be appended to the minutes of the meeting of the precinct election commission.

The precinct election commission shall be obliged, within the time limit established by the district election commission, to consider an issue about introducing changes to the protocol on vote counting without the re-count of ballot papers. The protocol with the mark “Corrected” shall be drawn up pursuant to this Code in the manner in which the protocol of the precinct election commission on the counting of votes at the precinct, which needs to be clarified, was drawn up, be transported and handed over to the district election commission in the manner prescribed by Article 123 of this Code.

During the time period, when the precinct election commission considers the above issue, the copies of the protocol of a precinct election commission on vote counting at the election precinct and other election documents delivered to the district election commission shall be stored in the district election commission.

7. If there are complaints, applications, reports duly drawn up by candidates, their authorized persons and official observers, relating to violations of the requirements of this Code during the conduct of the voting and/or vote counting at the election precinct that raise doubts about the vote counting results at such election precinct, the district election commission shall be entitled to adopt a decision on re-counting of votes at the election precinct.

8. If there is a report or an application in writing submitted by persons specified in Part one of Article 123 of this Code, on violation of the requirements of this Code during the transportation of the protocol on vote counting at the election precinct, as well as other documents, to the district election commission, the district election commission shall be entitled, or shall be obliged, in case if there are clear signs that the packages with the election documents have been interfered with, to adopt a decision ordering a re-count of the votes at such election precinct.

A decision of a district election commission ordering to conduct a re-count of votes in case if the violation of integrity of the packages with packed documents is revealed, following the acceptance of election documents from the precinct election commission, shall not be allowed.

9. The protocols of a precinct election commission on vote counting at the election precinct shall be stored at the premises where the meeting of the district election commission is being held until the votes at the election precinct have been re-counted by the district election commission.

10. The votes of the voters at the election precinct shall be re-counted by the district election commission after consideration and receipt of protocols and other documents from all precinct election commissions. All members of the precinct election commission shall have the right to be present during re-counting of votes at the election precinct by the district election commission; moreover, candidates, their authorized persons, and official observers may be also present there.

11. In the event of re-counting of votes at the election precinct, a district election commission shall, in accordance with the form approved by the Central Election Commission, draw up a protocol on re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct.

After the district election commission has drawn up a protocol on re-counting of votes at the election precinct, the information contained in the respective protocol shall be transferred to the Central Election Commission in accordance with the same procedure as the information on the vote counting.

The protocols on the re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct shall be drawn up by the district election commission in four copies. The copies of the protocols shall be numbered and shall have equal legal force. Each copy of the protocol shall be signed by the head, deputy head, secretary and other members of the district election commission present there and by the precinct election commission members who took part in the re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct. Each copy of the protocol shall be affixed by a seal of the district election commission. The district election commission shall announce the data entered in the respective protocol. Candidates, their authorized persons, official observers who were present during the re-counting of votes, shall have the right to sign the first copy of the protocol. If a member of the commission disagrees with the information entered in a protocol, that member shall be obliged to set out in writing his or her dissenting opinion, which shall be attached to the protocol.

Failure or refusal of some members of the election commission to sign a vote counting protocol at the election precinct shall entail no legal consequences for the validity of the protocol.

12. Should the district election commission, during the re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct, discover circumstances indicated in Part one of Article 122 of this Code, the district election commission shall be entitled to make a decision declaring the voting at the election precinct invalid. In this case, the protocol on re-counting of votes at this election precinct shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure specified by Part 11 of this Article and shall contain only the information indicated in clauses one through five of Part two of Article 121 of this Code. In other places a dash shall be inserted.

13. The first copy of the protocol of the district election commission on the re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct, together with the relevant protocol of the precinct election commission on vote counting at the election precinct, and the decision of the district election commission declaring the voting at the election precinct to be invalid, shall be attached, respectively, to the protocol of the district election commission on the voting results in the respective territorial election district. The second copy of the protocol of the district election commission on re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct shall be kept by the secretary of the district election commission; the third copy of the protocol shall be delivered to the respective precinct election commission; the fourth copy shall be immediately placed in the premises of the district election commission for public review. The information contained in the protocol of the district election commission on the re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct shall be announced.

14. The election commission members, candidates for the President of Ukraine, their authorized persons, official observers who were present during the re-counting of votes at the election precinct shall have the right to immediately receive upon their request copies of the protocol specified in this Article, certified by the head and the secretary of the district election commission and affixed with the election commission’s seal; no more than one copy of the protocol for each member of the election commission, candidate and for each official observer.

15. The information on the voting results in the territorial district shall be formed and transmitted to the Central Election Commission by means of the automated information analysis system only after the information on the vote counting with regard to all election precincts in the territorial district has been transmitted to the Central Election Commission via means of this system.