The Constituency Returning Officer’s (CRO) staff deliver the ballot boxes from the polling stations to the count venue
The CRO’s staff check in ballot boxes as they arrive at the count venue
Stage 2 – Verification
Each polling station will have separate ballot boxes for the constituency and regional contests
One by one, ballot boxes are emptied onto tables and the empty boxes are shown to agents
Staff count the constituency and regional ballot papers in each box from each polling station
Staff verify that the number of ballot papers in each ballot box matches the number of papers issued, as recorded on the Presiding Officers’ ballot paper accounts
Any ballot paper that has been placed in the wrong ballot box is still valid and will be moved to the correct box during verification
The final number of postal ballot papers for the constituency and regional contests will also be verified
During the verification stage the ballot papers are kept face up
In the event of any discrepancies between the numbers of ballot papers in the ballot boxes and the paperwork completed by the Presiding Officer, the CRO will need to establish the reason for any discrepancies and produce a final verified total for constituency ballot papers and for regional ballot papers
The CRO produces a verification statement. Agents can view or copy this statement if they wish
If the count does not take place immediately following verification stage, the verified boxes will be stored securely. Candidates and agents can attach their seals to the boxes if they wish.
Stage 3 - Counting of the votes
The processes for counting the constituency and regional ballot papers are the same, although the results from the constituency will be transmitted to the Regional Returning Officer for the calculation of the regional results and the allocation of regional seats
Before counting commences, constituency postal ballot papers must be mixed with other constituency ballot papers from at least one ballot box and constituency ballot papers must be mixed with other constituency ballot papers from at least one other ballot box
Before counting commences, regional postal ballot papers must be mixed with other regional ballot papers from at least one ballot box and regional ballot papers must be mixed with other regional ballot papers from at least one other ballot box
Staff sort ballot papers by candidate or party
Staff count the number of votes cast for each candidate or party
The CRO will share the provisional constituency result/regional local totals and the candidates and agents can ask the CRO to recount the votes