§ Section 38.¹(untitled)

(1) Votes received from other
electoral districts and votes received by postal voting shall be
counted in an open meeting by the local government election
commission or the polling station commission for postal voting
established thereby.
(2) Without disturbing the work of the commission which is
counting the votes received by postal voting and from other
electoral districts, the meeting may be concurrently attended by
not more than two authorised observers from each political party
or alliance of political parties which has submitted a list of
candidates for the relevant council elections, and also
representatives of the Central Election Commission and mass
media. Members of the election commission of the relevant local
government and persons authorised by these commissions may also
be present at the meeting of the polling station commission for
postal voting. After completion of the counting of votes, the
abovementioned persons have the right to familiarize with the
vote counting report.
(3) Prior to the commencement of the counting of votes,
registration envelopes shall be sorted into valid and invalid
registration envelopes without opening them.
(4) Such registration envelopes received by postal voting
shall be deemed to be invalid which:
1) have been sent by voters who have not applied for postal
voting;
2) have been sent by persons who are not registered in the
electoral roll in the relevant electoral district;
3) have been sent by voters who have already voted in the
relevant council elections on the election day or on any of the
advance voting days at the polling station;
4) do not bear the given name, surname, and sequential number
of the voter with which he or she has been registered in the
electoral roll;
5) have been received after the commencement of the counting
of votes;
6) have been sent from the Republic of Latvia;
7) have been received from voters who have sent several
registration envelopes.
(4¹) Such registration envelopes received from
other electoral districts shall be deemed to be invalid:
1) which do not allow identification of the voter;
2) which are not stamped with the seal of the local government
election commission of the location;
3) if the relevant person is not registered in the electoral
roll in the relevant electoral district;
4) if, according to the information in the electoral register,
the relevant person has already voted.
(5) Valid registration envelopes shall be placed together and
a notation shall be made in the electoral roll that a valid
registration envelope has been received. The total number of
valid registration envelopes shall be recorded in the election
procedure log. Invalid registration envelopes shall not be opened
but the total number thereof shall be recorded in the election
procedure log.
(6) In opening a valid registration envelope, it shall be
verified whether it contains only one ballot (for votes received
by postal voting - postal ballot) envelope. If there are several
such envelopes in the registration envelope, all of them shall be
deemed invalid. A postal ballot envelope shall be deemed invalid
if the registration envelope does not contain a signed statement
that the voter has voted in person.
(7) [20 October 2022]
(8) The valid and invalid registration envelopes shall be
registered and kept in accordance with the procedures laid down
by the Central Election Commission.
(9) The general procedures provided for in this Chapter shall
be applied to the counting of votes received by post and from
other electoral districts and the calculation of election
results.
[17 December 2020; 20 October 2022]