More than 700 voters changed safeguarded ballots, delaying election count

More than 700 voters changed ballots they had deposited for safekeeping in Latvia’s parliamentary election, delaying the count until around midnight, LSM reported. In the previous parliamentary election, about 100 voters changed their safeguarded ballots.

The Central Election Commission had expected counting to begin after 9 p.m. on October 3. Some polling stations spent a long time determining which ballot was each voter’s final valid one, including for people who had deposited ballots more than once and may also have voted on election day. This year, voters could deposit ballots for safekeeping at every polling station, which also contributed to the delay.

Commission chair Māris Zviedris said counting could not begin sooner because safeguarded ballots had to be mixed with other ballots first to protect voting secrecy.

Zviedris proposed changing the Constitution to allow advance voting in parliamentary elections, rather than the current system of depositing a ballot for safekeeping. Under advance voting, voters cannot change their ballot, as is already the case in European Parliament and municipal elections.

Changes to the Saeima election law, which currently allows voters to replace a safeguarded ballot, could also improve the process. Until 2018, voters could change such a ballot only once, on election day and at the same polling station where they had deposited it. The rules were later expanded as technology developed, Zviedris said, but he now believes the wider options are making elections harder to organise and that limits should be restored.