Organisation : National Electoral Commission
Facility : Voting Process
Country : Sierra Leone
Voting Process : https://www.electionin.org/uploads/201-Voting_Procedures.pdf
Home Page : https://necsl.org/
AN OVERVIEW OF THE VOTING PROCESS :
When a registered voter goes to vote at his / her polling centre on s/he will go through the following procedures.
Related / Similar Service : National Electoral Commission Sierra Leone
As the voter arrives, s/he will:
1. Join the queue to enter the polling centre, and wait in an orderly manner.
2. Present his/ her Voter’s ID Card to the NEC Queue Controller if asked to. This is so that the queue Controller can check that the voter is at the correct polling centre
3. Move forward to his/her designated polling STATION.
S/he must join the queue again to enter this station, and wait in an orderly manner.
The main stages of voting at the polling station :
** Queue to enter the polling station
** Present your Voter’s ID card
** Collect your ballot paper(s)
** Go behind to mark your ballot(s) secretly
** Place your ballot(s) in the ballot box and have your finger inked
When the voter reaches the front of the queue at his/her polling STATION, s/he will:
1. Present his/her Voter’s ID card to the NEC Identification Officer
** The Identification Officer will check that his/her name is on the Final Voters Register (FVR) for that particular polling station.
** The Identification Officer will also check that the voter’s other details (age, sex) match the information taken during registration.
** If the person is allowed to vote, the Identification Officer will then make a hole in his/her Voter’s ID Card to show that he/she had been processed and send him/her forward to collect his/her ballot papers.
2. The voter now proceeds as directed to the NEC Ballot Issuer :
** The Ballot Issuer will check the voter’s ID Card to see that it has been hole-punched by the Identification Officer.
** The Ballot Issuer will then give the each voter 2 ballot papers; one for the Mayor/Chairperson election and another for a Councillor election.
** The Ballot Issuer will explain to the voter how to tick his/her ballot papers secretly.
3. The voter now proceeds as directed to stand behind an empty screen and mark his/her ballot papers :
** Each polling station will have 2 or more screens which hide the voter while s/he is marking her/his ballot papers.
** Voters will be asked to wait until a screen, is free for them to use.
** Once a voter is behind the screen, s/he should take her/his time to mark the ballot papers correctly.
** When his/her ballots are correctly filled in, the voter should carefully fold their ballot papers in half (without tearing them) from left to right, then again from top to bottom, so that their votes are hidden.
4. The voter now precedes from the voting screen to place her/his ballot papers in the respective ballot boxes :
** All ballot boxes will be under the permanent observation of the NEC Ballot Box Controller.
** They will also be visible to representatives of the political parties and candidates as well as independent election observers that are present in the polling station. These observers will be able to see that ballot papers are placed in the ballot boxes without interference.
** The voter should proceed to place his/her ballot papers in the correct boxes. Their ballot papers for the Mayor/Chair election should go in the ballot box marked for the Mayor/Chair election. Their ballot paper for the Councillor election should go in the box marked for the Councillor election.
** The voter should NOT show or give his/her ballot papers to the Ballot Box Controller or anybody else. Each voter must place his/her ballot papers in the ballot boxes by themselves. S/he should make sure that the ballot papers go all the way into the ballot boxes.
** When the voter has placed his/her 2 ballot papers into the ballot boxes, the Ballot Box Controller will ink their finger with indelible ink to show that they have completed voting. All voters MUST have their finger inked. This is a legal requirement to prevent electoral fraud. The police will be called to deal with any voter who refuses to have their finger inked