After the end of voting in Liberia’s runoff election, the next activity is the three-stage counting process.
According to the National Elections Commission of Liberia, the counting process includes a reconciliation of the ballot papers, sorting of the ballot papers, and counting of the ballot papers.
All party agents and observers are encouraged to observe the counting process from a distance and not interfere with the process.
At the end of counting, the record would be detailed on the count form, with the representatives of the parties/party agents expected to sign off the document and subsequently, it is stamped by the NEC polling staff.
The original copy of the record of count is placed in a security envelope called Temper Evident Envelope (TEE 3) and sent to the tally centre for consolidation.
The second copy would be pasted on the wall outside the polling area for public viewing while copies are also given to the candidates in the runoff.
The next activity, according to the NEC is the tallying process, which starts with the opening of the TEE 3 in the presence of accredited members and observers.
The record of the count would then be photocopied and shared with everyone in the tally centre before the start of data entry into the result management system.
A screen will be projected in the tally centre for every agent and observer to see while the vote counts are being entered into the computer system.
Finally, after inputting the records from a polling place into the system, a computer-generated copy would be printed, signed, and pasted for viewing at the tally centre.
