Elections 2022, queues for the anti-fraud coupon: what it is and why it slows down the vote

The ballot papers are equipped with a paper appendix with a progressive alphanumeric code

ROME. There are queues in various polling stations in the capital, with voters, in some cases, who have waited over half an hour to vote. Sign of a decent turnout but, in some cases, also of slowness in voting procedures due to the anti-fraud coupon, a security system developed to counter the possibility of replacing the ballot paper at the time of voting. A novelty, introduced by the “Rosatellum”, already tested in the political elections of 2018 and which even on that occasion caused some lines. It is a removable rectangular perforated coupon with an alphanumeric code attached to a flap of the card that the president or the teller detach before inserting the same ballot into the urn.

Code

The ballot papers are equipped with a paper appendix with an “anti-fraud coupon” with a progressive alphanumeric code: after the voter has voted and returned the ballot to the president of the polling station, the appendix with the coupon is detached from the ballot paper and kept by the members of the polling stations, who check if the number of the coupon is the same as that noted before delivery. Only after this check does the chairman of the polling station insert the ballot into the ballot box. The polling station gives the voter two ballots, one (pink) for the Chamber and one (yellow) for the Senate. The vote is expressed by drawing a sign on the rectangle containing the identification of the list and the names of the candidates in the plurinominal board. The vote thus expressed is valid for the purposes of electing the candidate in the single-member board and in favor of the list in the multi-member board. If the sign is drawn only on the name of the candidate in the single-member constituency, the vote is in any case also valid for the linked list. In the presence of several lists connected in a coalition, the vote is divided among the lists of the coalition, in proportion to the votes obtained by each list in all sections of the single-member constituency.

Sanctions
In the event that all the spaces on the electoral card are occupied by stamps, it must be renewed. It is possible to do this at the electoral office of the municipality of residence which will remain open today from 7 to 2. Access to the voting booth is allowed only to the voter, except in cases of assisted voting strictly required by law, with the presence of accompanying persons for the voters physically impeded in the autonomous expression of the vote. In any case, those who do not have the right to vote cannot go to the voting booth. Minors accompanying their parents will not be able to enter the voting booth. Each ballot is equipped with a special removable coupon, equipped with a serial-generated progressive alphanumeric code, called “anti-fraud coupon”, which is removed and kept by the electoral offices before the ballot is inserted into the ballot box. Once the voting has been completed, the voter hands the closed ballot and pencil to the president. The chairman removes the anti-fraud slip from the ballot box, checks that the progressive number is the same as noted before delivery and, subsequently, places the slip without the slip in the urn. The mobile phone and any other equipment that reproduces photographs and videos must be handed over to the members of the polling station before entering the voting booth. There are penalties for those who do not comply with this provision.