[Repealed without an effective date available. See the overview of changes]

• 1. The postal voting office opens the return envelope and removes the postal voting certificate or the replacement postal voting certificate, the copy of the identity document, the envelope containing the ballot paper, and, if applicable, the declaration from the Dutch public service. It then checks:

o a. whether the postal voting certificate or the replacement postal voting certificate is authentic;

o b. whether the number of the postal voting certificate or the replacement postal voting certificate does not appear in the extract of invalid postal voting certificates referred to in Article M 5, paragraph 3;

o c. whether, according to the extract of valid postal voting certificates referred to in Article M 5, paragraph 3, a postal voting certificate or a replacement postal voting certificate with this number has not previously been received;

o d. based on the copy of the identity document, whether this document was valid on the day of the nomination;

o e. whether the declaration that the voter has personally completed the ballot paper is signed and whether the signature below it matches the signature on the identity document; and

o f. if applicable, whether the declaration on behalf of the Dutch public service is signed and whether the signature below it matches the signature on the identity document.

• 2. If the member determines that the return envelope does not contain all the required documents, they are authorized to open the envelope containing the ballot paper to determine whether the missing document is inside. The ballot paper may not be inspected during this process.

• 3. The member of the postal voting office shall place the found documents back in the return envelope, seal it, and set it aside if:

o a. the return envelope does not contain all the required documents;

o b. the voting documents, other than the ballot paper, do not meet the requirements referred to in the first paragraph; or

o c. a return envelope contains voting documents for multiple persons, one or more of which do not meet the requirements referred to in the first paragraph, or the number of voting documents does not correspond to the number of ballot papers, or envelopes containing ballot papers.