As in the PASO, the telegrams to make the provisional count will be transmitted from a scanner, in most voting centers, through the cellular network.
Once the votes are counted at each table, two processes will take place: the provisional recount (based on the telegrams), without legal validity, and in charge of the National Electoral Directorate, which depends on the Ministry of the Interior, and the final scrutiny (based on the minutes), which is carried out by the National Electoral Court.
As explained by CIPPEC, the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth, the telegrams used for the provisional count (that is, the results published on election night) will be transmitted from a scanner, via the cellular network, andn 70% of the voting centers, which are those that have network coverage. This transmission system, which already It was used in the PASO, seeks to speed up the provisional count.
In polling stations without cellular network, the procedure for transmitting the telegram will remain the same as before. The telegrams will be transported by the Argentine Post Office to the digitalized electoral branches (previously called data transfer centers). According to CIPPEC data, the number of these locations has been growing over time, In 2013 there were 83; in 2015, 216; in 2017, 414; and this year 1.130 will be used.
When the vote leaves the voting center, two processes take place: the provisional count (based on the telegrams), without legal validity and carried out by the National Electoral Directorate, which depends on the Ministry of the Interior, and the final scrutiny (based on the minutes), which is carried out by the National Electoral Court (through electoral boards in general elections).
The two processes begin at the voting table but then diverge. Once voting is over, the president of each table opens the ballot box, takes out the envelopes, opens them and verifies their contents, takes out the ballots with the votes, grades and counts each vote in the presence of the party inspectors. He then enters the results of this count into the counting report and transcribes them into two types of documents: the telegram and the counting certificates for the inspectors. Then, the president of the table hands the ballot box, the envelope with the minutes, and the telegram to an employee of the Argentine Post Office.
El Argentine Mail collects and transmits telegrams from the voting centre or transports, digitises and transmits them from the now called digital electoral offices (formerly data transmission centres). In addition, the company smartmatic loads, sums and disseminates telegram data.
The delay in transporting telegrams from the voting centers to the Post Office centers (where the telegrams were digitized and transmitted) is one of the factors that delayed past provisional counts. A study by CIPPEC (Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth) shows that the number of competing lists and the educational level of each area also partly explain this delay.
The provisional count serves an informative purpose; only the final count has legal value. “It is unusual to hear talk of a final count because provisional data generally show irreversible trends, but the elected candidates are proclaimed based on the result of the final count, which is carried out by the National Electoral Court of each district,” explains María Page, associate researcher of the Political Institutions program at CIPPEC.
The final count begins 48 hours after the voting ends. Unlike the provisional count, which never covers all the tables, the final count is carried out at all the tables and is done with the tally sheets that each table president prepared on election day.
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
