§ Article 54Voting by Post

1. Voters who due to the condition of their health or for other reasons are not able to come to the polling station on the referendum day shall be provided with an opportunity to participate in the referendum by voting by post. Voting by post shall be possible at post offices during their business hours beginning from 11 days before the referendum and ending 1 day prior to this voting, provided the voter is put on the voter lists of the city, region, and if the voter is not put on the voter lists of the city, region in whose post office he is voting, ending 2 days prior to the referendum.
2. The head of the post office shall be responsible for the organisation of voting by post. He shall be responsible for keeping of records, issue and collection of referendum ballot papers and voucher envelopes during voting by post. The chairman of the referendum committee of the polling district within the territory, of which a post office is situated, shall be responsible for the organisation of the supervision of the work of the post office during voting by post. When necessary, he must, in conjunction with the chairmen of other referendum polling district committees, whom the city, regional referendum committee has assigned with such task, arrange for the organisation of members’ of referendum polling district committees’ watching-over in post offices.
3. The head of the post office, with the consent of the city, regional referendum committee, shall appoint postal workers for the issue and collection of referendum ballot papers and voucher envelopes during voting by post. They shall be entrusted with the issue of referendum ballot papers and voucher envelopes. If the city, regional referendum committee requests so, the head of the post office must remove a postal worker from work with referendum documents. The city, regional referendum committee shall issue for postal workers who are authorised to issue referendum papers, certificates of the established form.
4. A referendum committee member, referendum observer, having produced his certificate for the postal worker, voter, having produced the voter certificate and the document proving his identity, shall have the right to write his remark in this certificate, and the head of the post office shall immediately notify the city, regional referendum committee about this remark. The postal worker who does not have this certificate shall not have the right to issue referendum papers.
5. Post offices must provide a room (place) where the voter can, without interference and in secrecy, mark the referendum ballot papers and put them into a voucher envelope. Voting may be observed by the observers of parties and political organisations, who have certificates permitting to observe voting in any referendum-polling district.
6. The postal worker shall issue referendum documents to a voter in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Committee. Together with referendum ballot papers, voters shall be given envelopes for voting by post. An outer envelope for voting by post shall be addressed by the postal worker to the referendum polling district committee, which is indicated in the voter certificate of the voter.
7. Voting in secrecy, the voter shall:
1) mark the referendum ballot papers;
2) put the marked referendum ballot papers into the voucher envelope;
3) seal the voucher envelope;
4) put the voucher envelope into the outer envelope together with the voter certificate;
5) seal the outer envelope.
8. The outer envelopes, voucher envelopes, referendum ballot papers shall be delivered at least 2 days prior to the referendum by a postman to the homes of voters who due to their health condition are not able to come to vote at a post office or a polling station on a referendum day. A concrete schedule of postmen’s arrival to the homes of voters must be approved by the head of a post office (postal section) not later than 12:00 noon, its copy shall be put on an announcement board and may be implemented only on the day following the approval. Not less than 2 committee members may arrive at the voter’s home together with the postman as well as referendum observers.
9.The list of such voters shall be compiled 10 days prior to the
referendum by the referendum polling district committees in accordance with requests to ensure the possibility of voting at home, which are of the form established by the Central Electoral Committee and filled in by the citizens. Referendum polling district committees, with the consent of the chairman of a city, regional referendum committee or a member of the city, regional referendum committee authorised by the chairman, may supplement the list, if they receive the requests of these voters not later than 3 days prior to the referendum. The heads of town, region care and guardianship or health surveillance and treatment institutions must also approve citizens’ requests. These requests shall be appended to the list of voters, compiled by a referendum polling district committee, who due to their health condition are not able to come to vote at a post office or a polling station on a referendum day.
10. Postal workers, referendum committee members or other persons may not bring envelopes for voting by post and referendum ballot papers to the homes of voters, not included on the list of voters, who due to their health condition are not able to come to vote at a post office or a referendum polling station on a referendum vote day. The following persons may be included in the list of voters who due to their health condition are not able to come to vote at a post office or a referendum polling station on a referendum vote day: group I invalids, group II invalids, with motor disabilities and temporary working incapacity, and also, persons who have reached the age of 70, if they have submitted requests, provided for in this Paragraph, to ensure the possibility to vote at home. Officers who furnish false information to the referendum committee, regarding the voters who due to their health condition are not able to come to vote at a post office or a referendum polling station on a referendum vote day, shall be held liable in accordance with the procedure established by law.
11. The sealed outer envelope (with the voter certificate, voucher envelope and ballot papers in it) the voter may:
1) hand to a postal worker;
2) hand to the postman who has delivered the referendum documents to him; or
3) put into a post-box.
12. When a voter votes at home, it shall be prohibited to exert influence on his determination and to urge him to vote. The voter who has no physical disability preventing him from marking referendum ballot papers, shall himself put the secretly marked ballot papers into the voucher envelope, seal it, put the voucher envelope into the outer envelope together with the voter certificate and seal the outer envelope. Upon request of the voter who because of his physical disability is not able to do this himself, the person chosen by him (except the postman, referendum committee member or observer) shall assist him in doing so. The said person must keep the voting secret. The voter may hand the sealed outer envelope to the postman or to send it on the same day or another day.
13. It shall be prohibited to accept from the voter an outer envelope, which is not sealed.
14. The expenses related to voting by post shall be compensated from the State Budget.