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

1. Immediately after the end of voting, a territorial election commission shall convene a continuous meeting that shall continue without a break until the results of the voting in the election district are established. During this period of time, the members of the territorial election commission shall not be engaged in any activities other than participation in the election commission’s meeting.

2. The territorial election commission’s meeting specified in Part one of this Article shall be officially recorded in the minutes of the continuous meeting that shall be signed by the head or the meeting chairperson, as well as the secretary of the election commission and/or the member of the election commission that performed the duties of the secretary at the said meeting. The protocol shall be appended with written dissenting opinions (if available) of members of the election commission who took part in the meeting and who disagree with the decision adopted by the territorial election commission.

3. At the territorial election commission’s meeting specified in Part one of this Article, the head of the territorial election commission or a member of the election commission designated by him or her 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; he or she shall also receive the sealed packages with the other election documents specified by Part ten of Article 251 of this Code. The time of the receipt by the territorial 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 territorial election commission’s meeting.

4. When receiving the precinct election commission documents, the territorial 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.

5. 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 territorial election commission that had been received by the territorial election commission prior to the time period of the receipt of the precinct election commission documents, the territorial election commission shall adopt one of the following decisions :

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

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

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

6. A decision provided for by Part five of this Article shall be adopted by voting of members of the territorial election commission, by an absolute majority of the votes of all members of the commission, and shall be recorded in the minutes of the territorial election commission’s meeting.

7. 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 territorial election commission may adopt a decision to oblige a precinct election commission to amend the mistakes by drawing up a protocol with the mark “Corrected,” in accordance with clause two of Part five of this Article (if the content of such corrections, errors, and inaccuracies cannot be clarified and eliminated without drawing up a protocol marked "Corrected" by the polling station election commission), which shall be recorded in the protocol of the territorial election commission’s meeting. During consideration of this issue by the precinct election commission, copies of the protocol on vote counting at the election precinct, the ballot papers and other election documents specified in Part ten of Article 251 of this Code shall be kept in the territorial election commission.

If any corrections, mistakes, or inaccuracies are discovered, which can be eliminated without re-counting the votes and which do not require drawing up a protocol marked "Corrected," the territorial election commission shall make a decision provided for in paragraph 1 of part five of this article, indicating the detected corrections, errors and inaccuracies. Such a decision shall be attached to the minutes of the precinct election commission.

8. A precinct election commission shall be obliged, within the time limit established by the territorial election commission, to consider an issue about introducing changes to the respective protocol on vote counting without the recount of ballot papers. The protocol with the mark “Corrected” is drawn up in accordance with this Code in the same manner in which the protocol of the precinct election commission on the counting of votes at the polling station which needs to be corrected was drawn up shall be transported and handed over to the territorial election commission in the manner prescribed by Article 253 of this Code. The time of the receipt by the territorial election commission of the protocol of the precinct election commission with the mark “Corrected” and data entered therein shall be recorded in the minutes of the territorial election commission’s meeting.

9. If there are applications or complaints, supported by reports duly drawn up by candidates for the local council, candidates for the position of the village, settlement, city mayor, their proxies, the party organization’s authorized persons, official observers, or voters 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 territorial election commission may adopt a decision on recounting of votes at the election precinct.

10. If there is a report or an application in writing submitted by persons specified in Part one of Article 253 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 territorial election commission, the territorial election commission may, or shall be obliged, in case if there are clear signs that the packages with the election documents have been interfered with as well as in case of impossibility to eliminate inaccuracies in the protocol of the precinct election commission without the recount, to adopt a decision ordering re-count of votes at such election precinct.

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

11. The protocols of a precinct election commission on vote counting at the election precinct as well as sealed packages with other election documents of the precinct election commissions shall be stored in the premises where the territorial election commission’s meeting is being held until the votes at the election precinct have been re-counted by the territorial election commission.

12. The recount of votes at the election precinct in the respective district from the respective local elections shall be carried out by the territorial election commission after consideration and adoption of protocols and other documents from all precinct election commissions. All members of this precinct election commission have the right to participate in the recount of the votes of voters at the election precinct by the territorial election commission, as well as candidates for local council, candidates for the position of the village, settlement, city mayor, their proxies, authorized persons of party organizations, official observers.

The recount of votes at the election precinct for the relevant local elections shall be carried out by the members of the territorial election commission in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Election Commission, taking into account the provisions of Article 250 of this Code.

13. Based on the results of the recount of votes at the election precinct, a territorial election commission shall draw up a protocol on re-count of votes at a respective election precinct in a form established by the Central Election Commission. The protocol on the recount of votes at the polling station may be prepared by technical means.

14. The protocol on recounting of votes at the respective election precinct shall be drawn up by the territorial election commission in four copies. The copies of the protocols shall be numbered and shall have equal legal force. All copies of the protocols shall be signed by the head, deputy head, secretary, and other members of the territorial election commission present at the commission meeting and by the precinct election commission members who took part in the re-counting of votes at the respective election precinct. All copies of the protocols shall be affixed by the territorial election commission’s seal. The data contained in the protocol shall be announced. Candidates to the local councils, candidates for the position of the village, settlement, city head, their proxies, party organization’s authorized persons, or official observers in this election who were present during the recounting 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.

15. A territorial election commission may adopt a decision declaring the voting at the election precinct invalid, only if circumstances specified in Part one of Article 252 of this Code are discovered during the recounting of votes at the respective election precinct.

16. Should a decision be made during the recounting of votes on declaring the voting at the election precinct invalid, all ballot papers that were used for voting at the respective election precinct shall not be subject to counting. In this case, the protocol of the territorial election commission on the recount of votes from the relevant elections at this election precinct shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure established by parts thirteen and fourteen of this article and shall contain only the information specified in paragraphs two to nine of part 251 of the Code or in paragraphs seventeen - twenty-four of the second part of Article 251 of this Code. In other places, a dash shall be inserted.

17. The first copy of the protocol of the territorial election commission on the recounting 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 territorial election commission declaring the voting at the election precinct to be invalid, shall be attached, respectively, to the protocol of the territorial election commission on the voting results in the respective multi-member election district (if the protocol on the results of voting is not drawn up at the respective local elections - to the protocol on the results of the respective elections). The second copy of the protocol of the territorial election commission on recounting of votes at the respective election precinct shall be kept by the secretary of the territorial 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 territorial election commission for public review. The information contained in the protocol of the territorial election commission on the recounting of votes at the respective election precinct shall be announced.

18. The members of the territorial election commission, candidates for local councils, candidates for the position of the village, settlement, city mayor, their proxies, authorized persons of party organizations, official observers in the relevant local elections, who were present at the recount, shall immediately receive upon their request copies of the protocol specified in this Article, certified by the head and the secretary of the territorial 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, a candidate for local council and for each official observer. Copies of the protocol on the recount of votes at the polling station may be made by technical means.

A respective territorial election commission shall transmit the information on the voting results in the multi-member election district to the Central Election Commission, pursuant to the procedure and in a form established by the Central Election Commission.