Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521974
MEP ELECTION 2024 14 maltatoday | THURSDAY • 6 JUNE 2024 Voting time Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm on Saturday 8 June. Polling stations The polling station where you have to go and vote is listed on the voting docu- ment you received at home or picked up yourself. All government primary schools become makeshift polling stations for the day. Voting document Do not forget to take your voting document with you to the polling station. With- out a voting document, you will not be able to vote. You cannot vote using your ID card or driving licence. The 50m line Outside every polling station you will notice a 50m line sprayed onto the pavement and road. This line delineates the closest distance (50 metres) can- didates and their agents can stand to the polling station. This allows voters some peace of mind within the precincts of the polling station. Polling booth Once inside the polling station you will be direct- ed to the classroom where your assigned polling booth is to be found. Each room consists of a long ta- ble where representatives of the Electoral Commis- sion and the parties sit and a number of polling booths where voters can mark their ballot in privacy. At the centre of the room will be two ballot boxes – one for the European Parliament election and another for the local council election – where you are expected to deposit your ballot. The ballot When entering the polling booth, you hand over your voting document to the officials. They strike off your name from the register and give you a bal- lot sheet on which you will be expected to mark your voting preferences. The electoral commis- sioners will rubber stamp the ballot on the back- side with the official seal of the Electoral Commis- sion. Representatives of the parties may also stamp the ballot sheet on the rear side. On the front side, the ballot will contain a list of names of the can- didates contesting the election. These are grouped in alphabetical order by political party or grouping, while all independent candidates will be listed on the bottom part. The candidates for the Labour, Nationalist and ADPD parties will be written down in red, blue and green ink respectively. The rest will be in black ink. Next to each candidate name there will be an empty box, where you are expected to write down your voting preference. Marking the ballot Malta's voting system is based on the single trans- ferable vote. This means that you vote by writing down the numbers in ascending order starting from 1. You can vote for all candidates on the bal- lot; you can vote for just a few; you can just vote for one candidate and stop; you can vote for all the candidates of one political party and stop there; but you can also vote for different candidates from dif- ferent parties, including independents. The system allows you to transfer your vote across different candidates. Be careful however, to write down the numbers clearly and within the box. Do not write over the border of the box, or outside it because this may invalidate your vote. Also, do not mark the ballot paper in any other way because this will invalidate your vote. Cross-party voting You may hear officials and activists from the two major parties emphasising the need to vote only for all candidates on the party list. They do so for political reasons to ensure their respec- tive parties elect the most seats. You may obey this instruction; however, it is also your right to disregard these voices and vote across different parties and candidates. By giving your favourite candidate in one of the big parties your number 1 vote and then giving your 2 to an independent candidate or a candidate from a different party, you will not be spoiling your ballot. Neither will you spoil your ballot if you vote 1 to an inde- pendent candidate and continue with your 2, 3 and other numbers on candidates from different parties. Indeed, you can shift between the differ- ent candidates at will. Malta joins the rest of the European Union on Saturday 8 June to vote for its representatives in the European Parliament. Voting in Malta is not compulsory and some may opt not to vote. It is a legitimate choice but one we discourage. Nonetheless, if you want to vote, KURT SANSONE has compiled a quick guide on how to do it, what happens after you've marked your ballot, and how the result will be calculated. All you need to know