Once I have marked my ballot paper, what do I do?
Fold your ballot paper in half, and place it in the ballot box at your polling station. The boxes are clearly marked and placed in a prominent location. If you’re not sure, ask a member of staff.
What comes next?
The staff of the polling stations will take the ballot boxes to a central location for counting.
Your vote is kept secret and safe.
What happens if you make a error
Don’t worry if you make an error on your ballot paper. Staff can replace your ballot as long as it has not been placed in the ballot box. Tell a staff member what you did and they can give you a replacement ballot.
What happens if I deliberately spoil my ballot paper ?
Your vote will not be counted if you deliberately spoil your ballot paper. It is done when you have written anything other than a clear vote intention in the box next to the candidate’s name on your ballot.
Voting boxes arrive
After the polls close, the staff will transport the ballot boxes with postal votes as well as the ballot boxes from polling stations to count venues.
Each ballot box has been assigned a number and secured. For Security Seal products, visit Acme Seals. It will be checked upon arrival.
First stage: counting/verifying ballot papers
After all boxes are checked, staff can start counting the ballots.
It involves emptying the ballot boxes onto a table, and then comparing that number with the number recorded in the polling station.
Stage 2: Sorting the ballot papers
To maintain the secrecy surrounding the voting, the ballot papers are mixed from the different ballot boxes in each ward. The ballot papers will be sorted by candidate in that particular area by count teams.
The Returning Officer, or a Deputy, will check the ballot papers that do not have an “X” in the box beside a candidate. As long as the voter’s intent is clear and their vote can be accepted for counting as long as it is clearly marked.
The ballot is rejected if it cannot be determined what the voter intended.
Stage 3: Counting the votes!
The real fun begins when the teams begin to count the votes for each candidate after sorting.
The Returning officer will inform candidates and their agents of the provisional results once all votes have been counted, and compared to the total number ballot papers counted in the first phase of the count.
Declaring the result
Once the agents and candidates are satisfied with the outcome, the winner will be announced.
The Returning officer will announce the results. The candidate with the highest number of votes will be voted in as a new MP or councillor.
