CEC head: accuracy matters more than speed in vote counting

The head of Latvia's Central Election Commission (CEC), Māris Zviedris, addressed reporters at a press conference to explain why counting votes in the Saeima elections took longer than anticipated.

According to Zviedris, the main reason for the delay was the need to verify votes that had been deposited for safekeeping. This procedure applies to voters who are not at their registered polling station on election day, but the additional verification step takes time and slows down the overall counting process.

A possible fix for the future

The CEC chief said he sees a way to address this issue in future elections: replacing the deposited-vote procedure with a system of advance voting. This would allow voters who cannot cast their ballot at their own polling station on election day to vote ahead of time instead of having their ballot held for later verification.

Zviedris stressed that when it comes to counting votes, accuracy matters more than speed. In his view, a slower but thorough process is preferable to a faster count that could undermine confidence in the election results.

The CEC head did not specify a timeline for when such a reform might be considered or introduced, but indicated that the current experience shows the existing procedure needs to be reconsidered.