In the coming municipal elections on 5 June, the voters will be able to cast their vote at any polling station of their electoral district, using either passport or identification cards as the voting instrument. For the first time, the polling stations will use an electronic online voters’ register.
At the polling station, the employee of the election commission will use a smart device to scan the barcode or QR code of the voter’s passport or ID card and make sure that the voter is included in the list of voters of the relevant municipality and that the voters’ register does not include a mark on their participation in the current elections. In the system, the voter will be marked in the electronic voters’ list, while the employee of the election commission will record the information about the voter in a list of voters in paper form, where the voter will sign for receiving the voting envelope and ballot papers.
If for any technical reason the online register of voters will not be available, the voters will be able to cast their vote with the voting envelope. The voter will be recorded in a separate list of voters, where the voter will sign for the receipt of the voting materials. Another envelope will be issued to the voter together with the voting envelope and ballot papers - this is a registration envelope, including the voter’s name, surname and personal identification number. After the choice is made, the voter will place the anonymous voting envelope with the cast vote into the registration envelope. The registration envelope will be returned to the employee of the polling station at the vote box, the employee will stamp it with the polling station stamp and put it into the vote box.
As the operation of the online voters’ register is renewed, the election commission will check, whether the vote of the voter has been registered at another polling station. If the voter has not voted at another polling station, the vote will be marked in the voters’ list as valid and will be counted. If during this time the voter has voted at another polling station, the vote will be deleted and will not be counted.
In a municipal elections the administrative territory of each municipality forms a separate election district. The municipal elections of 5 June 2021 will take place in 41 election districts - the new administrative territories - six state cities and 35 districts. For example, the newly created Dienvidkurzeme district is one election district and the voters from this district can cast their votes at any polling station within the boundaries of the election district.