The ballot received for voting by pos must be filled in by the voter so as to ensure the secrecy of the vote. The voter must fill in and sign the declaration on refraining from multiple voting, which also confirms the exercise of the right to vote in secret. The authorities warn voters to tick only one option in each of the two ballot papers, as well as to ensure that the envelopes are properly sealed and contain the security label, IPN reports.
The Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the steps that voters in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Norway must follow to vote by post. First of all, in order to avoid errors in filling in the ballot paper, sealing the depersonalized inner envelope and sending the personalized outer envelope, the voter must check the contents of the envelope with the voting materials they received and, before marking the ballot, they must carefully read each numbered step of the received instructions.
The voter will get the ballot in the envelope received from the electoral office of the polling station. In order to vote correctly, the person is to tick with the pen inside a single circle of the ballot paper for the presidential election, and on the one for the referendum – in one of the circles below the proposed options. The pen must be in blue/black ink or another ink color if legible.
The authorities warn that the ballot paper for the presidential election, the runoff, is used only in the case of the second round of voting. In this case, the voter must put the tick in the circle next to one of the two contestants who reached the second round. The ballot paper shall be filled in by the voter so as to ensure the secrecy of the vote.
The voter is to insert a ballot paper in each of the depersonalized envelopes, on which the type of election and the round of voting are printed. “Stick each depersonalized inner envelope and seal it with a security label. Beware! Depersonalized inner envelopes are cancelled if they are not properly sealed or the security label is absent. It is mandatory to fill in and sign the declaration on refraining from multiple voting and confirmation of the exercise of the right to vote in secret,” the CEC warns.
For the first round of the presidential election and the national constitutional referendum, a single declaration shall be completed and signed with the appropriate mention.
“Make sure you placed the envelopes with the ballots and the signed declaration in the personalized outer envelope. Stick the envelope and apply a set of return stamps in the upper right corner, unless it had already been glued or the proof confirming the advance payment of the return postal service had been applied,” the authorities specify.
Envelopes are cancelled if the depersonalized inner envelopes are not properly sealed or if the security label is absent. They are also cancelled if they are damaged in such a way that the secrecy of the vote is not ensured, as well as if the personalized outer envelope lacks the completed and signed blank of the declaration on refraining from multiple voting and confirmation of the exercise of the right to vote in secret.
Also, the vote will not be taken into account if the personalized outer envelope had not been received by the electoral office by the time limit set for voting. The personalized outer envelope must be taken to the post office if it is sent as a registered letter or put in the mailbox if it is sent as a plain letter.
The envelope must be sent in such a way that it can be delivered to the electoral office of the polling station for postal voting by no later than 06:00 p.m. on the Thursday before election day (October 17).
In case of the presidential runoff, the person must repeat the voting procedure, fill in the ballot for the second round of voting and sign the second blank of the declaration, then send the personalized outer envelope as soon as possible. In case of the runoff, the envelope must arrive at the electoral bureau by 06:00 p.m. on October 31.
