As PARO you are responsible for authorising LROs to give public notice of the statements of local totals of number of votes cast and ballot papers rejected. Checking and authorising these totals is a key stage in ensuring that the result is accurate and there is a clear and unambiguous audit trail. You therefore need to have in place a thorough and robust checking process to be able to satisfy yourself that the local totals are accurate, and that information and figures are recorded and transmitted accurately by LROs, and recorded and collated accurately by you and your staff.
Calculating an accurate result relies on accurate verification and count figures. You will need to consider specifically what steps you will take to ensure that the local totals you receive from LROs are accurate before you authorise the publication of the local statement.
In particular, you should consider how to ensure that the following are recorded and transmitted consistently and accurately:
the total number of ballot papers going forward to the count, ensuring that this figure includes all ballot papers from polling stations and postal vote openings
the total number of votes cast for each candidate
the total number of rejected votes and the numbers recorded in each category for rejection
the total number of votes counted plus the total number of rejected votes should equal the total number of ballot papers that have gone forward to the count
If there is any variance in these figures, you should require the LRO to take whatever steps you think are necessary and appropriate to try to resolve the variance, and to be able to explain any remaining variance to you.
Before any figures are formally accepted by you, they should be checked with the LRO who has provided them, including checking for any transcription errors.
If you have reason to doubt the accuracy of the counting of the votes in any voting area you may direct the LRO to re-count the votes.1
Once you are satisfied with the local totals you may authorise them to give public notice of the statement of local totals.2