How votes are counted
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What happens when the polls close
Polling station staff will close the polling station at 10pm (or once everyone who was in the queue by 10pm has voted). When the polls close, the counting process can begin. Whatever type of election it is, election counts are managed by the relevant Returning Officer responsible for that election.
Counting takes place as soon as is practicable once a poll has closed. Counting can either take place overnight after the poll has closed, on the following day, or sometimes during the following week. This depends on the type of election, and specific local circumstances and decisions that Returning Officers have taken during their planning for the election.
If the count is taking place overnight then immediately after the polls close, polling station staff take the sealed ballot boxes from their polling station to their count centre, along with the completed paperwork which records how many ballot papers have been issued to voters at the polling station.
If the count is not taking place overnight, then the sealed ballot boxes will be taken to a secure location and stored until they can be delivered to the count centre for the beginning of the count.
Exit polls
Exit polls
After the polls close at 10pm, you might see ‘exit polls’ in the media, which seek to predict the outcome of the election.
Exit polls are not reports from the count centre nor are they based on actual, counted ballot papers. They are based on a survey of voters after they leave the polling station, and try to predict how people have voted.
If you don’t want to share you voted with researchers outside the polling station, you don’t have to.
Exit polls can only be published after polls close.
What happens at the count centre
All ballot boxes are taken to a count centre for the area. Count centres are often in large halls, such as sports centres or school halls.
The person with responsibility for an election is known as a Returning Officer. The Returning Officer for the area will manage the count centre. There will also be count staff, candidates and agents, official observers, and sometimes people from the media (such as news reporters and photographers) at the count centre.
The ballot boxes are distributed among the count staff. Then, the ballot boxes are opened for the first time, in view of candidates and agents.
How votes are counted
First, verification takes place. Verification is where the number of ballot papers in the ballot box are counted, making sure that this matches the information on the paperwork from the polling station about how many ballot papers were issued during the day.
Postal votes
Postal votes
Before and on polling day, the electoral services team and the Returning Officer at the local council hold postal vote opening sessions.
Candidates, their agents, or a person the candidate appoints can also attend the sessions, as can accredited electoral observers.
At these sessions, the signature and date of birth on the declarations in the returned postal vote packs are checked against the postal vote application, to ensure they’re the same.
No votes are counted at postal vote opening sessions, and ballot papers are kept face down.
Anyone attending a postal vote opening session has a duty to maintain secrecy.
The postal vote ballot papers are stored securely until the polls close, when they are taken to the count centre to be counted.
How votes are counted (continued)
After the ballot papers have been verified, the ballot papers from the polling stations are mixed with the postal vote ballot papers. Then, the counting of votes for candidates begins.
How the votes are counted, and how the result of the election is determined, will depend on the voting system used for the election. Different types of elections use different voting systems.
Spoilt or doubtful ballots
If a ballot paper is blank, spoilt, or count staff are unsure of the voter’s intention from the mark on the paper, the Returning Officer will consider it and decide if the vote is valid and should be counted, or if it should be rejected.
Spoilt ballots are ballot papers that have been marked incorrectly, and do not indicate the voter’s intention. For example, the voter may have voted for two candidates in an election where they can only vote for one.
Doubtful ballots are ballot papers that do not absolutely show the voter’s intention. For example, the cross [X] to mark the vote may cover two boxes .
Declaring the results
After all votes have been counted, the Returning Officer will announce the results and declare which candidate or candidates have been elected.
What happens when the polls close
Polling station staff close the polling station at 10pm (or once everyone who was in the queue by 10pm has voted). When the polls close, the counting process can begin.
Counting takes place as soon as is practical once a poll has closed. Counting may take place overnight after the poll has closed, or on the following day
If the count is taking place overnight, election staff will take the sealed ballot boxes from the polling station to the count centre, along with the completed paperwork which records how many ballot papers have been issued.
If the count is not taking place overnight then the ballot boxes will be transported to and stored in a secure location until the count begins.
Exit polls
After the polls close at 10pm, you might see exit polls in the media, which predict the outcome of the election.
Exit polls are based on a survey of voters after they leave the polling place, to try to predict how people voted.
Exit polls can only be published after polls close.
At the count centre
The count centre will be a central location that all ballot boxes for the area are returned to. There may be more than one count centre if it is a large constituency or council area. Count centres are often in large halls, such as sports centres or school halls.
The Returning Officer for the area will manage the count centre. There will also be count staff, candidates and agents, official observers, and sometimes people from the media (such as news reporters and photographers) at the count centre.
The ballot boxes are distributed among the count staff. Then, the ballot boxes are opened for the first time, in view of candidates and agents.
Counting the ballots
First, a verification count takes place. The number of ballot papers in the ballot box are counted, making sure the number matches the information on the paperwork from the polling place.
After this, the counting of votes for candidates begins.
How the votes are counted will depend on the voting system used for the election.
Spoilt or doubtful ballots
If a ballot paper is spoilt or doubtful, the Returning Officer will consider it and decide if the vote is valid and should be counted, or should be rejected.
Spoilt ballots are ballot papers that have been marked incorrectly, and do not indicate the voter’s intention. For example, the voter may have voted for two candidates in an election where they can only vote for one.
Doubtful ballots are ballot papers where the voter’s intention is unclear. For example, they may have marked a cross (X) which covers two boxes, or in a council election they may have given a ‘1’ to more than one candidate.
Postal ballots
Before and on polling day, the Returning Officer and their staff hold postal vote opening sessions.
Candidates, their agents or a person the candidate appoints can also attend the sessions, as can accredited electoral observers.
At these sessions, the signature and date of birth on the declarations in the returned postal vote packs are checked against the postal vote application, to ensure they’re the same.
No votes are counted at postal vote opening sessions, and ballot papers are kept face down.
Anyone attending a postal vote opening session has a duty to maintain secrecy.
The postal vote ballot papers are stored securely until the polls close, when they are taken to the count centre to be counted.
Counting votes and different voting systems
This system is used in:
In elections using the first-past-the-post system, the candidate who receives the most votes in their constituency wins.
This system is used in:
Constituency candidates are elected using the first-past-the-post. Once the constituency votes are counted the candidate with the most votes is declared elected.
The regional votes are then counted. The Regional Returning Officer add up the total regional votes from all of the constituencies in their region cast for parties or individual candidates. They will also add up the total number of constituency seats won within the region by each registered party.
The number of votes cast in the regional ballot for each registered party or individual candidate is divided by the number of constituency seats gained, plus one. After that calculation is done, the party with the highest figure gets the first regional seat. To allocate the second to seventh additional seats the calculation is redone, but each time any additional seats gained are added into the calculation.
This method of calculation is known as the modified d’Hondt system.
This system is used in:
In elections using the single transferable vote system, you number the candidates in order of your preference on the ballot paper using 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on.
In order to get elected a candidate needs to reach a certain number of votes, called a quota. The quota is calculated based on the number of votes cast and councillor vacancies available.
Counting takes place in stages. In the first stage the first preference (or number 1 votes) on each ballot paper is counted. If nobody receives enough votes to reach the quota then they are eliminated.
In the second stage the ballot papers from people who voted for the eliminated candidate are looked at again and their votes are transferred to their second choice candidate. If someone now reaches the quota then they are elected and any votes that they received above the quota are transferred to the next choice preference on those ballot papers.
The stages continue until all the seats are filled, or the number of candidates left equals the number of vacancies left unfilled.
While voting using STV is very simple, it is more complicated when it comes to counting the votes. For this reason, counting is usually done electronically in Scotland.
Learn more about this process by watching our animated guide to counting STV
All calculations are carried out by an e-counting system, which works by scanning ballot papers. The e-counting software generates reports at each stage of the count and any ballot papers that cannot be scanned by the software are looked at and counted by the Returning Officer.
What happens when the polls close
The polling station staff close the polling station at 10pm (or once everyone who was in the queue by 10pm has voted). When the polls close, the counting process can begin.
Counting takes place as soon as is practical once a poll has closed. Counting can either take place overnight after the poll has closed, or on the following day. If there are different elections happening at the same time sometimes the counting takes place during the following week.
If the count is taking place overnight after the polls close, polling station staff take the sealed ballot boxes from their polling station to the count centre, along with the completed paperwork which records how many ballot papers have been issued.
If the count is not taking place overnight then the ballot boxes will be stored in a secure location until the count begins.
Exit polls
Exit polls
After the polls close at 10pm, you might see exit polls in the media, which predict the outcome of the election.
Exit polls are based on a survey of voters after they leave the polling station, to try to predict how people voted.
Exit polls can only be published after polls close.
At the count centre
The count centre will be a central location that all ballot boxes for the area are returned to. Count centres are often in large halls, such as exhibition centres and leisure centres.
The Chief Electoral Officer is the Returning Officer for all elections in Northern Ireland. The Chief Electoral Officer can appoint Deputy Returning Officer to assist in the running and management of the count.
There will also be count staff, candidates and agents, official observers, and sometimes people from the media (such as news reporters and photographers) at the count centre.
The ballot boxes are distributed among the count staff. Then, the ballot boxes are opened for the first time, in view of candidates and agents.
Counting the ballots
First, a verification count takes place. The number of ballot papers in the ballot box are counted, making sure the number matches the number of ballot papers issued in the polling station. This information is included on the paperwork from the polling station.
After this, the counting of votes for candidates begins.
How the votes are counted will depend on the voting system used for the election.
Spoilt or doubtful ballots
If a ballot paper is spoilt or doubtful, the Returning Officer or Deputy Returning Officer will consider it and decide if the vote is valid and should be counted, or should be rejected.
Spoilt ballots are ballot papers that have been marked incorrectly, and do not indicate the voter’s intention. For example, the voter may have voted for two candidates in an election where they can only vote for one.
Doubtful ballots are ballot papers that do not absolutely show the voter’s intention. For example, the voter may have placed a cross (x) beside the name of multiple candidates.
Postal votes
Postal votes
Before and on polling day, the Electoral Office hold postal vote opening sessions.
Candidates, their agents or a person the candidate appoints can also attend the sessions, as can accredited electoral observers.
At these sessions, the signature and date of birth on the declarations in the returned postal vote packs are checked against the postal vote application, to ensure they’re the same.
No votes are counted at postal vote opening sessions, and ballot papers are kept face down.
Anyone attending a postal vote opening session has a duty to maintain secrecy.
The postal vote ballot papers are stored securely until the polls close, when they are taken to the count centre to be counted.
Counting votes and different voting systems
This system is used in:
In elections using the first-past-the-post system, the candidate who receives the most votes in their constituency wins.
This system is used in:
In elections using the single transferrable vote system, you number the candidates in order of your preference on the ballot paper using 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on.
Once all the verified votes have been counted a quota is worked out. Any candidate who meets or exceeds this quota at any stage of the count is elected. Any surplus votes they have are then redistributed according to the voter’s choice. This continues until all seats are filled or no more candidates can be elected.
Once all the verified votes have been counted a quota is worked out. Any candidate who meets or exceeds this quota at any stage of the count is elected. Any surplus votes they have are then redistributed according to the voter's choice. This continues until all seats are filled or no more candidates can be elected.
When the polls close
Polling station staff close the polling station at 10pm (or once everyone who was in the queue by 10pm has voted). When the polls close, the counting process can begin.
Counting takes place as soon as is practical once a poll has closed. Counting can either take place overnight after the poll has closed, or on the following day, or sometimes during the following week. This depends on the type of poll.
If the count is taking place overnight after the polls close, polling station staff take the sealed ballot boxes from their polling station to the count centre, along with the completed paperwork which records how many ballot papers have been issued.
If the count is not taking place overnight then the ballot boxes will be stored in a secure location until the count begins.
Exit polls
Exit polls
After the polls close at 10pm, you might see exit polls in the media, which predict the outcome of the election.
Exit polls are based on a survey of voters after they leave the polling station, to try to predict how people voted.
Exit polls can only be published after polls close.
At the count centre
The count centre will be a central location that all ballot boxes for the area are returned to. Count centres are often in large halls, such as sports centres or school halls.
The Returning Officer for the area will manage the count centre. There will also be count staff, candidates and agents, official observers, and sometimes people from the media (such as news reporters and photographers) at the count centre.
The ballot boxes are distributed among the count staff. Then, the ballot boxes are opened for the first time, in view of candidates and agents.
Counting the ballots
First, a verification count takes place. The number of ballot papers in the ballot box are counted, making sure the number matches the information on the paperwork from the polling station.
After this, the counting of votes for candidates begins.
How the votes are counted will depend on the voting system used for the election.
Spoilt or doubtful ballots
If a ballot paper is spoilt or doubtful, the Returning Officer will consider it and decide if the vote is valid and should be counted, or should be rejected.
Spoilt ballots are ballot papers that have been marked incorrectly, and do not indicate the voter’s intention. For example, the voter may have voted for two candidates in an election where they can only vote for one.
Doubtful ballots are ballot papers that do not absolutely show the voter’s intention. For example, the cross [X] to mark the vote may cover two boxes.
Postal votes
Before and on polling day, the Electoral Office hold postal vote opening sessions.
Candidates, their agents or a person the candidate appoints can also attend the sessions, as can accredited electoral observers.
At these sessions, the signature and date of birth on the declarations in the returned postal vote packs are checked against the postal vote application, to ensure they’re the same.
No votes are counted at postal vote opening sessions, and ballot papers are kept face down.
Anyone attending a postal vote opening session has a duty to maintain secrecy.
The postal vote ballot papers are stored securely until the polls close, when they are taken to the count centre to be counted.
Counting votes and different voting systems
This system is used in:
- UK Parliamentary general elections
- local council elections in Wales
- Police and Crime Commissioner elections
In elections using the first-past-the-post system, the candidate who receives the most votes in their constituency wins.
In some areas, you may be represented by more than one councillor. If there are multiple vacancies at a local council election, you can vote for as many candidates as there are councillor vacancies. The candidates with the most votes win, filling the available seats.
This system is used in:
- Senedd elections
In elections using the additional member system, the number of seats a party wins is calculated using the d’Hondt method mathematical formula.
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