Advice from someone who’s been there!

Important lessons learned & tips for tellers. PLEASE READ & SHARE.

  1. Make sure the meeting elects competent & confident tellers. Officers/Councillors/MP are NOT entitled to count by virtue of their position.
  2. Carefully count numbers of eligible voters in the room for each vote.
  3. Ballot papers should only be issued to eligible people in the correct number.
  4. Make sure only tellers collect ballot papers from members – no one else should do this. (Ballot papers SHOULD be posted into ballot boxes. We are looking into getting these for our meetings).
  5. No of ballots cast should match to no of voters. Check & confirm independently. In no circumstances, should
  6. Count votes for each candidate. Tellers should double check each other’s counts & re count until agreed. Do not be afraid to recount. Everyone should be satisfied that the count is correct. Don’t be rushed.
  7. Make a note of total ballots cast, total for each candidate & any missing or spoilt papers. Numbers should all add up. If ballots are unclear they can’t be counted.
  8. No one should count or handle ballots who’s not an elected teller. If someone is interfering or distracting you whilst counting don’t be afraid to ask them not to!
  9. If anything odd happens, someone else collects ballots , ballots are missing or additional ballots cast raise this immediately and ask for a fresh ballot to be held.
  10. All the tellers must certify the result in writing, and the results announced.

If anything has been missed please comment below.

Counting Votes

0 thoughts on “Counting Votes

  • 15th October 2017 at 11:38 pm
    Permalink

    One of the principles enacted in public law is that candidates can and should be able to appoint observers to the count i.e. that bias is present! Tellers should be independent or balanced.

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