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If you need to interrupt vote reception

Published: 19 August 2026

In exceptional cases, polling staff may be required to interrupt vote reception if it cannot be carried out in a safe and secure manner. In such situations, as well as safeguarding people’s lives and health, officials should protect certain high-priority items such as votes and voter lists.

Grounds for a temporary interruption

Polling staff are only permitted to interrupt vote reception if they cannot carry it out in a safe and secure manner. This could be for a variety of reasons, such as a disturbance of public order or a fire.

Here’s how to interrupt vote reception

Always prioritise personal safety. You are permitted to deviate from these instructions if the situation requires you to. Since there will be several polling staff members at the voting location, some of the following steps can be carried out simultaneously. You might need to carry out these steps in a different order, depending on what has happened.

  1. Ask all voters and visitors at the voting location to leave the premises.
  2. If necessary, contact a security guard, public order officer or police officer, or call the emergency services.
  3. Seal the ballot box to prevent additional votes from being put in. Keep an eye on the ballot box at all times.
  4. If you need to leave the voting location, bring the ballot box, the completed voter lists and the daily report with you. Store these materials in a safe place (preferably a locked storage space) during the interruption. If this is not possible, you must ensure that these materials remain under constant supervision.
  5. Make a note of the incident, the time of the interruption and the seal number (if applicable) in the daily report.
  6. Notify the responsible Swedish mission abroad of what has happened, and agree on who will report the incident to the Swedish Election Authority.

Resuming vote reception

Resume vote reception as soon as you can carry it out in a safe and secure manner.

Resuming vote reception – step by step:

  1. Bring out all the voting materials.
  2. Put the voting location in order.
  3. Verify that the ballot box seal is intact and that the seal number (if applicable) matches the number recorded in the daily report. Allow those present to observe this verification process.
  4. Resume vote reception and make a note of the time in the daily report.

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