Alert: Hundreds of 'incidents' in polling stations

Shortly before noon on election day, the Election Authority stated that over 200 incidents had been reported from polling stations around the country. A large portion involve missing ballot papers or ones that cannot be found. One of the cases concerns a polling station in central Stockholm, where the Sweden Democrats’ name ballots were missing.

This information is one of several incidents reported during election day. At 10:57, the Election Authority had registered a total of 160 incidents where voters stated they were missing, or could not find, ballot papers. Just half an hour later, the figure had risen to over 200.

The case in central Stockholm occurred in a polling station on Valhallavägen on Sunday morning. There, the name ballots for parliament’s second-largest party were missing from all ballot holders.

This, despite the polling station having been open for about 20 minutes, the ballot papers had still not been replenished. This is reported by Aftonbladet.

The Stockholm City Election Committee simultaneously states that it had not received any reports of problems from the affected polling station.

“You can always take a party ballot and write the name of the person you want to vote for,” says Malin Marcusson, communications officer at the Stockholm City Election Committee’s office to Aftonbladet.

Advance voting: 170 incidents per day

The problems with ballot papers are meanwhile significantly bigger than the individual event in Stockholm. The Election Authority has received reports from different parts of the country about missing or unfound ballot papers.

According to Anna Nyqvist, head of administration at the Election Authority, the reasons can vary. For example, ballots may have been moved, stolen, or ended up in the wrong place.

During advance voting, an average of around 170 such incidents were registered per day. The Authority estimates that Sunday’s figure will be significantly higher when the day is summarized.

It is the municipalities’ responsibility to ensure there are enough ballot papers in polling stations. The parties, in turn, are responsible for making sure their name ballots are in place.

For voters who are met with an empty ballot holder, there is thus an alternative way to cast a personal vote. If party-specific or blank ballots are available, the candidate’s name can be written by hand on the ballot.