Pre-referendum Voting

When can pre-referendum voting begin?

Voters who are not able to cast their votes on the day of the referendum may vote by post as from 28 January.

Voting places:

Postal voting before referendum day shall take place at the following places:

At district commissioners' offices all over Iceland, both main offices and branch offices. In addition, district commissioners may also decide that pre-election voting at the official address of the commission shall take place at a special location outside the main office, and also that voting shall take place at other locations in their administrative areas.

Abroad: in the in the offices of Icelandic embassies and permanent missions to international organisations, consular offices or offices of honorary consulates, as determined in further detail by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs may also decide that voting is to take place at other locations abroad. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall also advertise where and when votes may be cast abroad.

In hospitals, prisons, homes and care institutions. A voter who is undergoing treatment in a hospital, or is an inmate of a hospital, old people's home or care institution for disabled people may cast his vote in the institution. The same applies to the inmates of prisons. Polling shall take place at a time to be decided by the election manager in consultation with the directors of the institution; in the case of hospitals it shall take place as close as possible to the day of the referendum. Polling may not, however, take place more than 3 weeks before the referendum. For further details, see pre-referendum voting by patients etc.

At home. Voters who are unable to go to a polling station on the day of the referendum due to illness, disability or childbirth may vote at home if they are not able to do so in an institution as described above. Applications to vote at home must be made in writing and accompanied by a certificate from a person who has reached the age of legal competence testifying to the personal circumstances of the voter. The earliest that polling of this type may take place is three weeks before the day of the referendum. For further details, see pre-referendum voting by patients etc.

Referendum managers shall announce where and when votes may be cast; this shall be done in the way in which official announcements are publicised in the locality in question.

What is the procedure for pre-referendum voting?

Voters are required to prove their identity to the referendum official by producing an identification document or ID card, or in another manner accepted as satisfactory in the opinion of the referendum official. By "identification document" is meant a personal identification certificate including a photograph, such as a passport or driver's licence.

When this has been done, the voter is given the referendum ballot.

Then, without assistance and without any other persons seeing, voter mark their choice on the ballot paper and place it in the envelope. A voter who spoils the ballot paper may receive another ballot paper.

The voter then writes his or her name names on, and signs, the covering letter in the presence of the election official, who witnesses the casting of the ballot.

Finally, the ballot paper, in its envelope, together with the covering letter, is placed in the postal envelope, which shall be securely closed. The envelope shall then be addressed to the local council chairman, district commissioner or electoral commission in the constituency in which the voter believes he is on the electoral register. The voter's name, ID No. and domicile address shall be written on the postal envelope.

Voters may cast postal votes more than once, in which case only the last vote they cast will be accepted. A postal vote shall be regarded as having been cast on the date on which the covering letter is dated.

If voters require assistance.

If voters inform referendum officials that they are not able to vote in the prescribed manner due to poor sight or some other disability, the election officials shall help them, privately, to vote, and shall be bound by an oath of secrecy not to divulge what passes between them. Assistance of this type shall only be given if the voters themselves are able to state unequivocally how they wish to cast their ballots. The voters must request assistance themselves.

What happens to the ballots?

In the case of ballot cast in the presence of election officials in the constituency where the voters are registered in the electoral register, the voters themselves place their ballots in an ordinary ballot box. The ballot box is then sealed by the election manager and the relevant referendum commission.

If ballots are cast in the presence of a referendum manager in a constituency other than that in which the voters are registered in the electoral register, then the voters themselves shall see to, and pay the cost of, sending their pre-referendum ballots. The referendum director shall, however, be obliged actually to place ballot in the post if the voters so request.

It shall be sufficient to bring a letter containing a pre-election ballot to any division of the constituency where the voter is on the electoral register.

Pre-referendum ballots must be delivered to the referendum commission by the end of polling on the day of the referendum in order to be considered valid.

Does casting a pre-referendum ballot disqualify one from voting on the day of the referendum?

No. Voters may vote on the day of the referendum even though they have cast pre-referendum ballots. In such cases, their pre-election votes are not considered valid in the election.