Newsroom
Procedures set to ensure secure and secret voting in Kosovo
PRISTINA 5 October 2000
PRISTINA, 5 October 2000 - Comprehensive procedures are being put in place to ensure secure and secret voting at polling stations throughout Kosovo for the municipal elections on October 28th.
Electoral Rule No. 13 adopted by the Central Election Commission and additional measures drawn up by the OSCE s Election Operation Department are designed to safeguard the right of each registered voter to cast their ballot in secrecy, without interference and to prevent possible fraud.
In order to prevent anyone from voting twice, each voter will be checked and have a finger marked with special ink when entering the polling station. The ink, which is only visible under ultra-violet light, will ensure that no one can enter a polling station a second time. In addition, a voter's registration receipt will be stamped so that it cannot be used to vote again.
Each voter should bring their blue registration receipt and a picture identity document from the list approved by the Central Election Commission with them to the polling station. The list includes the following:
FRY Identity Card
FRY Passport
FRY Driving License
Foreign Identity Card
Foreign Passport
Foreign Driving License
Official Refugee Identity Card
New Kosovo/UNMIK Identity Card
A valid Identity Card issued by KFOR, the OSCE or UNMIK
Kosovo Protection Corp Identity Card
Kosovo Police Service Identity Card
Once their identity and eligibility to vote have been verified against the Voters List, they will be obliged to sign beside their name and photograph before receiving a ballot paper for their municipality.
The ballot will list all the political parties, coalitions, citizens initiatives, and independent candidates that have been certified to stand in that municipality. In addition, there will be a candidates list poster in each polling station behind the privacy screen listing the names and numbers of all the individual candidates.
On the ballot paper, the voter will tick one political party, coalition, citizens initiative or independent candidate of their choice. If they are voting for a political party, coalition or citizens initiative, they may also, if they wish, choose one candidate from within the candidates list of the entity they ticked. To do that, they must write the three digit number of their chosen candidate in the designated space on the ballot paper. The numbers of the candidates will be on the separate candidates list poster.
This open list ballot system give voters a say in determining which candidates get elected.
In order to ensure secrecy, the voter will mark their ballot paper behind an individual screen and then place the completed and folded ballot in a sealed ballot box.
Special provisions have also been made for the casting of absentee and conditional ballots and for voters who are incapacitated or handicapped and require assistance to cast their votes.
Internationally recognised anti-fraud measures have been taken to ensure that forged ballots cannot be cast and that ballots cannot be tampered with after they are cast.
The ballot paper itself also contains a number of built-in high-tech security features to safeguard against fraud. Each one is individually numbered with a counterfoil so the ballot can be tracked. Watermarks, micro-lettering, thermo-chromatic marks, and intentional errors on the ballot will prevent any forged votes being cast. And the use of erasure sensitive paper will prevent any completed ballot from being altered.
A Kosovo-wide voters education campaign, using posters, explanatory leaflets, public service announcements in the media and a Voters Handbook, is currently underway and will continue until the elections. This campaign will help ensure that voters are fully informed about the procedures for election day itself.
Electoral Rule No. 13 adopted by the Central Election Commission and additional measures drawn up by the OSCE s Election Operation Department are designed to safeguard the right of each registered voter to cast their ballot in secrecy, without interference and to prevent possible fraud.
In order to prevent anyone from voting twice, each voter will be checked and have a finger marked with special ink when entering the polling station. The ink, which is only visible under ultra-violet light, will ensure that no one can enter a polling station a second time. In addition, a voter's registration receipt will be stamped so that it cannot be used to vote again.
Each voter should bring their blue registration receipt and a picture identity document from the list approved by the Central Election Commission with them to the polling station. The list includes the following:
FRY Identity Card
FRY Passport
FRY Driving License
Foreign Identity Card
Foreign Passport
Foreign Driving License
Official Refugee Identity Card
New Kosovo/UNMIK Identity Card
A valid Identity Card issued by KFOR, the OSCE or UNMIK
Kosovo Protection Corp Identity Card
Kosovo Police Service Identity Card
Once their identity and eligibility to vote have been verified against the Voters List, they will be obliged to sign beside their name and photograph before receiving a ballot paper for their municipality.
The ballot will list all the political parties, coalitions, citizens initiatives, and independent candidates that have been certified to stand in that municipality. In addition, there will be a candidates list poster in each polling station behind the privacy screen listing the names and numbers of all the individual candidates.
On the ballot paper, the voter will tick one political party, coalition, citizens initiative or independent candidate of their choice. If they are voting for a political party, coalition or citizens initiative, they may also, if they wish, choose one candidate from within the candidates list of the entity they ticked. To do that, they must write the three digit number of their chosen candidate in the designated space on the ballot paper. The numbers of the candidates will be on the separate candidates list poster.
This open list ballot system give voters a say in determining which candidates get elected.
In order to ensure secrecy, the voter will mark their ballot paper behind an individual screen and then place the completed and folded ballot in a sealed ballot box.
Special provisions have also been made for the casting of absentee and conditional ballots and for voters who are incapacitated or handicapped and require assistance to cast their votes.
Internationally recognised anti-fraud measures have been taken to ensure that forged ballots cannot be cast and that ballots cannot be tampered with after they are cast.
The ballot paper itself also contains a number of built-in high-tech security features to safeguard against fraud. Each one is individually numbered with a counterfoil so the ballot can be tracked. Watermarks, micro-lettering, thermo-chromatic marks, and intentional errors on the ballot will prevent any forged votes being cast. And the use of erasure sensitive paper will prevent any completed ballot from being altered.
A Kosovo-wide voters education campaign, using posters, explanatory leaflets, public service announcements in the media and a Voters Handbook, is currently underway and will continue until the elections. This campaign will help ensure that voters are fully informed about the procedures for election day itself.