As early voting in the presidential elections and referendum took place in Lithuania, questions arose in the public sphere as to whether voters might not participate in the referendum and whether such a position would be properly fixed later. The Central Election Commission (CEC) for its part emphasizes that people may not participate in the referendum, and such an expression will be reflected in the counting of all ballots received.
Arnas Paliukėnas, a lawyer interviewed by Elta, said that people who participate in early voting basically do not have the option not to participate in the referendum, since their coming to vote, at least indirectly, can be treated as participation in the referendum as well.
“After all, the very participation or non-participation in the referendum causes legal consequences, because then the referendum may or may not have taken place”, – A. Paliukėnas.
ELTA reminds that the referendum will be considered completed if more than 50 percent of the total number of voters come to vote. The provision of the referendum would be adopted if more than half of Lithuanian citizens with the right to vote agreed to it (marked the box “YES”).
According to A. Paliukėnas, in the early voting, such a situation may be encountered that it will not be possible to determine how many people who came to the elections simply decided not to participate in the referendum.
“Let’s say a person decided to vote in the early voting only in the first round of the presidential election, but his position regarding the referendum is not to participate. But in reality, ballots are signed only on Sunday, when there will be voting in their precincts, and no one signs for ballots during early voting. As a result, when you come and express your position that you do not want to participate in one of these actions, for example, a referendum, you put your signature for coming, but not for the ballots. And you get the same root and sticker as everyone else, which is that I participated in both the first round of the presidential election and the referendum,” commented the lawyer.
According to him, it is possible not to take the referendum ballot in early voting, but, according to the interlocutor, such a voter’s position is not recorded anywhere in writing. According to A. Paliukėnas, the question arises whether voters really have the opportunity not to participate in the referendum, it is not clear whether this is recorded.
A. Paliukėnas reminds that according to the law, it is necessary to count the number of citizens who participated in the referendum. In this way, according to the lawyer, it is decided whether the referendum took place or not. However, according to the interviewee, the question arises whether it is possible to trace how many voters decided not to participate in the referendum.
“If it will be counted from those who came to vote, it is from the issued ballots, in which case the calculation complies with the legal regulation, but we have a legal problem because there is no record of the issued ballots.” If it is counted from the ballots found in the ballot boxes, then we are waiting for Sunday until everything is counted.
But is there really a basis for recognizing that the number of ballots found corresponds to the number of citizens who participated in the referendum? There are reasonable doubts as to whether this complies with the aforementioned legal regulation. After all, even after the voter has picked up the ballot, we cannot be sure that the ballot really got into the ballot box. If 100 voters came to the early voting and only 50 took a ballot to vote in the referendum, but because of this they did not sign anywhere, then on Sunday, when summarizing the results, (…) we will not really know how many citizens participated in the referendum, because we will not have accurate information on how many ballots there are issued There is no such accounting.
It remains to count the ballots found in the ballot boxes. In this case, how will we track how many citizens who came to the early voting expressed the position that they do not participate in the referendum? It seems to me that either we are not tracking or the anonymity of voting is being violated,” A. Paliukėnas taught.
CEC: Voters can choose not to participate in elections
CEC spokesperson Indrė Ramanavičienė asserted in Eltai that voters in early voting can choose not to participate in the referendum or the first round of the presidential election.
“Both during advance voting and on election Sunday, voters who come to vote have the right to take only one ballot. In other words, the voter has the right to refuse to take part in either the presidential election or the referendum and not take one of these ballots. It is a voter’s right, and sometimes voters take advantage of it
In such a case, if the voter did not take the referendum ballot, but chose to take only the presidential election ballot, his participation would increase the number of voters who participated in the presidential election, but would not increase the number of voters who participated in the referendum,” said the CEC representative.
According to I. Ramanavičienė, when a voter arrives to vote in advance, a pre-voting sheet is printed, which records the fact of the voter’s arrival at the polling place in the CEC information system and indicates how (in the municipality, at a special point or at home) the voter voted. By signing the first part of the advance voting sheet, the voter confirms that he has received the election documents.
“Regardless of whether the voter plans to take one or both ballots, this confirmation is necessary to ensure that the documents have been issued to that particular voter.” In other words, when the voter puts his signature at the pre-voting place, it is not the number of issued ballots that is recorded, but the very fact of issuing and receiving the documents,” explained the CEC representative.
According to her, after the voter submits an identity document on election Sunday, the member of the election commission registering voters notes in the CEC information system that the voter has arrived at the polling station. This voter registration also records the fact of issuing and receiving documents. According to I. Ramanavičienė, later on the paper list, the voter must sign the fact of receipt of the ballot next to his name.
“If the voter takes two ballots, he puts two signatures, if he chooses to take only one – he signs once in the corresponding column. In other words, if the voter wants to take only one ballot, he will sign the title of that ballot. If the voter takes two ballots, he will put two signatures in different columns. The voter has until the moment of signing signatures to decide how many ballots he wishes to take,” I. Ramanavičienė taught.
The CEC representative reminded that voter turnout is the number of voters who voted in advance in municipalities, healthcare and social welfare institutions, military units, places of execution of sentences, voters’ houses, missions and voters who came to vote on election Sunday at polling stations.
“However, this number does not always coincide with the actual number of ballots found in the ballot boxes and early voting envelopes, so the exact number of voters who participated in the election or referendum is determined only after counting all received ballots,” I. Ramanavičienė pointed out.
ELTA reminds that Thursday will be the end of early voting in the first round of the presidential election and the referendum on the preservation of citizenship.
Tags: CEC exact number people participated election determined counting ballots
-
