Vote count delayed for hours after polling stations closed
On October 3, vote counting at several polling stations began hours later than planned. The delay was caused by extra checks on ballots submitted for safekeeping in advance.
Polling station staff faced an unexpected situation on October 3 — after the stations closed, vote counting could not begin right away.
What caused it
The delay stemmed from ballots that had been handed in for safekeeping ahead of time. Staff needed to carry out an additional check on how many times a given voter had cast a ballot, in order to rule out the possibility that the same person voted more than once.
Because of these checks, vote counting at several polling stations began several hours later than originally scheduled.
It has not yet been clarified how widespread this issue was across the country or what effect it might have on the timeline for announcing the final election results.
