Social Democrat Worker Followed Voters Behind Screens - Reported to Police

STOCKHOLM - A Social Democrat campaign worker has been reported to the police by the City of Sundbyberg after he repeatedly followed voters behind the screens at an early-voting station and tried to slip Social Democrat ballots into their envelopes. He took off his party vest before walking in.

The incidents took place during early voting at the library in Hallonbergen, an immigrant-heavy district of Sundbyberg just north of Stockholm, ahead of this autumn's general election. They are documented in two incident reports from the city's election office, first obtained by the news site Bulletin.

On a normal day, the man worked at the Social Democrats' campaign booth right outside the polling station. Before entering the library with voters, he made sure nobody could tell which party he belonged to.

"The person takes off the party vest before going into the polling station," one of the reports states.

Three Visits in Five Days

According to the reports, the campaign worker showed up inside the polling station on three separate occasions. The first was at lunchtime on Friday, September 4, when he brought three voters in and followed them all the way behind the screens where the ballot papers were laid out.

On Monday, September 7, he came back with a group of four. This time he tried both to hand them ballots and to put the ballots into their envelopes himself, until polling staff stepped in and stopped him.

Staff first wrote that the ballots belonged to the Left Party. The next day the team leader in Hallonbergen, who recognised the man from the Social Democrat booth outside, corrected the record: the ballots were Social Democrat ones.

"It Worked Fine Before"

The election office's notes describe a man who grew angry when staff watched over the voting and made sure voters picked up their own ballots from the regular stands.

Before leaving, he told staff he would come back with even more voters. Just before noon on Tuesday, September 8, he did exactly that, arriving for a third time with a new group.

"The person was refused to hand out ballots and help the voters put them in envelopes. The person became upset and had a heated discussion with the polling staff, saying it had worked fine before," the report says.

"Easier to Deal With" Next Door

When the Hallonbergen staff refused to let him go behind the screens, he announced he would take the group to the polling station in neighbouring Rissne instead, where, according to him, staff were much easier to deal with. The election officer immediately warned the team leader in Rissne, but the election board says he never turned up there.

Under Swedish election law, every voter must be alone behind the screen and prepare their own ballot. The only exception is for voters with disabilities who cannot manage on their own, and even then assistance is tightly controlled.

City Files Police Report

The incidents have been classified as unlawful influence on voters and group voting. In a written reply, Sundbyberg's election board confirms the reports have been handed to the police with the city as the injured party, and that it has also contacted the Social Democrats about what happened.

"This has formed the basis of the police report. As for the report itself and related documents, we refer to the Swedish Police Authority," the board wrote.

In total, 43 incident reports were filed in Sundbyberg during this year's election campaign, according to figures from the Swedish Election Authority. Samnytt has previously reported on polling staff in Stockholm's Husby district describing widespread group voting, and on the 24 criminal investigations into suspected election crimes opened across Sweden since the vote.