Photo: W.carter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A review by Swedish state broadcaster SVT found significant errors in the June EU elections in almost half of the voting districts. The most common problem: the number of votes does not add up with the number of ballot envelopes submitted.
To ensure that each vote is only counted once, each ballot is put into an envelope—one ballot in each. The number of registered voters who submit a ballot envelope is then collated with both the number of envelopes and the number of ballots.
In SVT’s review, 196 of 410 voting districts had discrepancies in this count. A total of 213 errors were found, corresponding to more than one in a thousand votes in the districts audited.
A higher number of ballots than envelopes is the most common problem. According to SVT, an explanation could be voters placing duplicate ballots in envelopes—something that cannot be remedied after the vote count has been finalized.
“Double ballots should be detected before the vote ends up in the ballot box or when you take the ballots out of the ballot envelope,” said political scientist John Högström. “Some minor errors can be expected, but that there were so many surprises me.”
In 100 out of the 410 districts, the number of voters submitting a ballot also doesn’t match the number of ballot envelopes.
“This type of inaccuracy risks damaging trust in the electoral system,” Högström said. “If voters feel that the risk of error is high, it can lead to them withdrawing from voting.”
SVT claims “the errors did not affect the outcome of the election.” Asked for a response, the Swedish Electoral Authority told the broadcaster it did not wish to comment.