Advance votes for the regional elections being counted on election day. Photo: Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva
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A significant voting error in Outokumpu, North Karelia, has emerged following the municipal and regional elections. Due to a mishandling by Finland’s postal service, Posti, 60 advance ballots intended for Outokumpu arrived too late to be included in the official vote count.
The mistake was traced to a sorting error that left the advance voting envelopes in a roll cage with an incorrect delivery schedule.
Though they reached the local distribution centre on the Friday before election day, the ballots were not delivered to the central election committee in time. Finnish election law requires that all advance ballots arrive by 7 p.m. on the Friday preceding election Sunday to be counted.
Posti acknowledged the error and attributed it to human oversight in the sorting process. “We began investigating the issue immediately and followed the Ministry of Justice’s guidance in handling the ballots,” said Mikko Hoikkala, head of production for postal services at Posti. He expressed regret over the incident, stressing the company’s commitment to strict handling procedures for election materials.
The ballots, which were returned late, have been archived at Outokumpu City Hall and will not be opened or included in the final results.
According to Pekka Jääskeläinen, secretary of the central election committee in Outokumpu, the excluded votes could have influenced the outcome. “If roughly half were cast in the municipal election, there is a possibility they would have had some impact,” he said.
Outokumpu elects 27 city councillors. With only a few votes sometimes separating candidates, a block of 60 ballots holds potential electoral weight.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed the seriousness of the mistake. “This is a rare and significant error,” said Arto Jääskeläinen, director of electoral administration. “Posti’s handling of advance ballots has typically been exemplary. I cannot recall an error of this magnitude happening before.”
The Ministry and Posti will continue to investigate the incident.
The incident was first reported by the local newspaper Outokummun Seutu.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
