Election Authority cuts estimate of voters affected by technical failure to fewer than 500

Sweden’s Election Authority has sharply reduced its estimate of voters affected by a technical failure that invalidated some advance votes. The authority now expects the number to be below 500, compared with its initial estimate of up to 4,000 among 1.4 million advance voters nationwide.

The authority said it would publish, as soon as possible, a list of the polling locations and times affected by the problem. It could not identify the individual voters involved, but it knew which locations and periods were affected. The list was expected to appear on val.se, probably on Tuesday, and would cover polling stations across the country.

The technical error occurred when some advance votes were registered with the same electoral-roll number as the previous voter. As a result, the first voter was registered twice, while the second voter’s ballot was not registered.

Anyone who knows when they cast an advance ballot can determine whether to vote again on election day. The authority stressed that the election-day vote will always apply, even if the person voted early. Voters should not cast another advance ballot, because voting early more than once would invalidate all their advance votes.

The problem was discovered in Nynäshamn municipality during the previous week. The system has functioned normally since Sept. 4, and advance votes cast after that date were not affected. The Election Authority planned to brief party leaderships on the situation on Monday morning.