Vote counting
The counting of votes is a factual process to count the votes cast after a written or secret election or vote in order to be able to determine the election result .
This activity is led by an electoral board , electoral committee or a counting committee and is actually carried out by election workers , which usually results from an express regulation. Regulations for the counting of votes may vary. a. of law , rules of procedure , social contract , statute arise. An election observer can be called in during the counting . At the end, the voting result is determined and published. It can be checked later as part of an election test.
Individual voting counting procedures
Bundestag elections in Germany
In the case of Bundestag elections in Germany, the regulations for counting votes are regulated in the Federal Election Act and the Federal Electoral Code (BWO) (fourth section - Determination and determination of the election results, Sections 67 ff. ). The procedure is as follows:
Before the counting of votes begins, the voting time must expire and the ballot must be closed by the election officer in accordance with Section 60 BWO. An early (even partial) counting of votes is not permitted. This also applies to postal voting districts and electoral districts in which all voters have already voted. The count is public. Immediately after the end of the voting process, the electoral committee determines the number of voting notes in the electoral roll and the ballot papers . The sum of these two values must match the number of ballot papers in the ballot box. To do this, the ballot box is opened and the ballot papers are counted. Any deviations must be documented in the electoral record and, if necessary, justified.
Then the votes are counted. For this purpose, the valid and invalid ballot papers are first separated. If the vote is not clear, the electoral board will decide on these doubtful cases at the end of the counting of votes and will document this in the electoral record. The valid ballot papers will now be evaluated according to the parties or applicants. This evaluation is carried out separately for the first vote and the second vote. Due to the four-eyes principle , the number of votes will now be counted again by another member of the electoral board. If both numbers match and the sum of the ballot papers of the parties or applicants corresponds to the number of valid ballot papers, the numbers are documented in the electoral record and this is signed by the members of the electoral board.
Preliminary official final result
In order to receive (provisional) figures for the entire federal territory quickly, the chairman of the electoral board reports the election results of his electoral district to the municipality by telephone, electronically or in some other way. This forwards the aggregated numbers to the district returning officer, who then sends the aggregated figures to the state returning officer and who lastly to the federal returning officer. These quick reports are regulated in § 71 BWO. If the results of all electoral districts are available, the election officer publishes the preliminary official final result . This is typically the case on election evening.
Official end result
The electoral boards hand over the election records as well as the sealed packages with the ballot papers to the community. The district returning officer checks the electoral records of the electoral districts in the electoral district in accordance with § 76 BWO. If there are any ambiguities or concerns about the correctness, the district returning officer will clarify these - as far as possible -. The district election committee then determines the official election result in the constituency based on the report of the district returning officer. The regional returning officer checks the electoral records of the electoral districts in accordance with § 76 BWO and the regional election committee determines the state result. This is the official bottom line . District and state returning officers inform the elected candidates.
Counting of votes as part of the workshop participation regulation
So z. B. § 22 WMVO details the voting process, in particular the use of ballot boxes . These must then be sealed if the vote cannot be counted immediately. The announcement of the result of the vote count is then the responsibility of the chairperson .
