Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election
The verification process
As the CRO, you are responsible for the verification of the Scottish Parliament election ballot papers.
The verification of the used, unused and spoilt ballot papers is a legal requirement,1 and is central to the declaration of accurate results.
The ballot papers must be sorted into their respective contests and the verification procedure completed for each of them.
If electors have been asked to place their ballot papers in separate ballot boxes for each contest, the different ballot boxes should be verified at the same time, either simultaneously at adjacent tables or one after the other at the same table and any ballot paper place in the wrong box should be moved to the correct ballot box.
You must verify each ballot paper account and draw up a statement as to the result of the verification.2 This is a record of the number of ballot papers expected and the number of ballot papers counted, along with an explanation for any variances.
As with all aspects of the verification and count process, transparency is key and the process followed should be clear to all present.
They key stages of the verification process are as follows:
| Stage | Action to follow |
|---|---|
| Opening the packets of unused ballot papers |
|
| Opening the ballot boxes |
|
| Organising the ballot papers |
|
| Reconciling the papers |
|
Cross-checking processes
It is easy for simple arithmetic or transposition errors to be made, particularly when people become tired. You therefore need to put in place processes to mitigate against this risk, such as ensuring that the recording of figures and every calculation is checked by more than one person.
The ballot papers are placed into bundles at various stages of the verification and it is important that procedures are put in place to double-check that the bundles have the correct number of ballot papers in them and, at the count stage, that they contain no more votes than the maximum allowed. This will be crucial to the accuracy of the verification and count.
You should make staff aware of this during briefings/training and senior staff should be alert to this at all times and intervene immediately if this is not being done.
- 1. Paragraph 55(1) and (7), Schedule 2, The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2015 (SPEO 2015) ↩ Back to content at footnote 1
- 2. Para 55(1) and (7), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 2
- 3. Para 55(1) and (7), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 3
- 4. Para 55(1) and (7), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 4
- 5. Para 55(1) and (7), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 5
- 6. Para 55(1)(a), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 6
- 7. Para 55(6), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 7
- 8. Para 55(7), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 8
- 9. Para 55(7), Schedule 2, SPEO 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 9