Are official election results processed by an electronic tabulation system?
Mongolia
Article 97
Vote Counting
97.4. Votes shall be counted by vote counting equipment and the vote counting equipment result sheet shall be the polling results of the election precinct.
97.5. If the vote counting equipment is damaged or dysfunctional, the ballot papers in the equipment shall be read and counted by the second or reserve equipment and if there is no second or reserve polling and vote counting equipment, the ballot papers shall be counted by hand as per procedures approved by the central election authority.
97.6. After the polling station prints the polling results bill from the vote counting equipment, polling results shall be transmitted to the central election authority immediately.
Electronic vote count machines were used in each polling station. The GEC undertook professional testing of the equipment in front of parties and citizen observers, yet it did not publish information on the functioning of the machines.
The assessment of the vote count and tabulation of results departed notably from the overall positive assessment of voting. While the initial tabulation was conducted electronically and the electronic vote count machines sent results automatically to the GEC, the closing and the manual recount unveiled the polling staff’s lack of knowledge and training on how to finalize and close the elections. In 18 out of 91 polling stations observed, the unused and spoiled ballots were neither counted nor packed separately as required, and in 33 cases, not all polling staff signed the protocol for the electronic vote count machines.
According to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report, Mongolia, Parliamentary Elections, 29 June 2016, however, a manual recount took place after the electronic tabulation due to the polling staff’s lack of knowledge and training on how to finalize and close the elections.
