Ballot Counting
in Bosnia
The September 1998 elections in Bosnia and
Herzegovina were particularly complex:
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Four simultaneous elections were taking
place in each of the two entities (the
Federation of BiH and the Republika Srpska).
In a few areas, a municipal election was also
being held.
Vo t e r s w e r e a b l e t o v o t e a t ‘ o u t o f c o u n t r y ’
p o l l i n g s t a t i o n s i n F r y ( Yu g o s l a v i a ) a n d
Croatia as well as in one of two types of
polling stations in Bosnia.
There were ‘by mail’ voters registered to vote
in over 60 countries worldwide.
Many polling stations had to have varying
quantities of all 30 types of ballots available.
Following the
success of Optical
Mark Reading
(OMR) in both the
1997 and 1998
voter registration
programmes, the
OSCE (Organisation
for Security and
Cooperation in
Europe) investigated the use of OMR scannable
ballot forms for the 1998 elections.
OMR technology can have advantages in the
rapid, accurate and secure counting of ballots.
It is of particular advantage where there are
multiple, simultaneous elections and in certain
types of multiple vote, proportional election
systems. DRS has provided ballot papers, OMRs,
software and support over many years for the
o p e n p a r t y l i s t e l e c t i o n s i n N o r w a y.
DRS worked with the OSCE to produce an
e ff e c t i v e a n d c o s t - e ff i c i e n t a p p r o a c h f o r t h e
ballot part of the elections - designing and
printing ballots, organising mailouts, carrying out
complex packing, organising delivery using
chartered aircraft into Bosnia and providing
OMRs and support.
In all, several million
ballots of over 30 types,
each one carrying a
unique barcode were
produced. The use of a
barcode ensured that
the same ballot was
never counted twice, the
barcode also carried
logistics information to
assist the complicated
distribution process. The
ballots ranged in size
from A5 to oversized
double sided A3. The
use of the DRS
computer controlled inkjet process allowed
overprinting directly from polling station data
supplied by the OSCE, and the creation of
custom polling station ballot packs.
This cut down waste and distribution cost
significantly and meant each polling station was
supplied with exactly the number of ballots
t h o u g h t n e c e s s a r y, i n m a n y c a s e s t h a t w a s a s
few as ten each of some ballot types.
Additionally some 200,000 postal ballots were
individually overprinted and mailed around the
world by DRS. For the counting itself, DRS
provided high speed automatic OMRs and
onsite support and assistance in the two
c o u n t i n g c e n t r e s - o n e i n e a c h e n t i t y.
With the OSCE, DRS designed and printed
customised OMR report of results forms which
were used to provisionally record results from
the hand counted regular polling stations. All
postal, absentee and tendered regular ballots
were read, together with the report of the
results forms by the OMRs. The use of
scannable ballots and OMR counting was a
key feature in the success of the very complex
1998 elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
IFES (International Foundation for Election
Systems) provides useful information on the
organisation of electoral registration and
elections in general.
DRS Data Services Limited is part of the DRS Group.
Please note DRS products and services are subject to change without prior notice and
that the information provided is for guidance only. DRS equipment complies with all
current regulations. All trademarks acknowledged.
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