Finland's Justice Ministry plans to investigate the unusually large number of votes that were rejected in the country's recent dual elections, according to Arto Jääskeläinen, the ministry's director of electoral administration.
Election officials overseeing the municipal and county council elections rejected more than 125,400 ballots, because of discrepancies or errors in the submitted votes.
Nearly 84,000 votes were rejected in the county elections alone — almost a dozen times more than in the previous poll in 2022 — or about 4.1 percent of all the votes in the county elections.
Officials reject votes when there is an incorrect marking on the ballot, which is sometimes done intentionally as a form of protest vote.
An election supervisor in Espoo told Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday that the simultaneous dual election likely prompted the increase in rejections.
Officials also rejected more than 41,000 ballots in the municipal elections, accounting for 1.7 percent of all votes in both polls.
Voters were informed
Despite the high number of rejected ballots, electoral administration chief Jääskeläinen said he does not believe they signify a failure on the ministry's part in organising the elections.
"I wouldn't interpret it that way. We have communicated and provided guidance appropriately, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough this time. I don't consider it a failure at all," Jääskeläinen said.
Ahead of the elections, letters were sent to all eligible voters, offering detailed instructions on how to participate and also contained information about each election.
"Whether or not [the letters] were read is another matter, and that's something the authority cannot influence," Jääskeläinen pointed out.
He said that it's possible an extensive media campaign about the issue might have helped educate people about the process, "but even then, there's no guarantee it would have reached everyone".
Final count
The final confirmed vote tally in both elections is expected to be released on Wednesday night.
According to Jääskeläinen, the justice ministry will make an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of holding combined elections in the future.
He said it would be worthwhile to discuss the merits of holding dual elections, although he views the matter as primarily a political one.
When the elections were being planned, there was little desire to hold them on separate dates, mainly due to concerns about holding the interest of the public amid voter fatigue.
"Candidates and parties certainly did not want separate elections," Jääskeläinen said.
As of Wednesday morning, the Justice Chancellor's office received two complaints about the dual elections.
One of the complaints was about the large number of rejected ballots, while the second complaint was in regard to practices at polling stations.
In an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, chair of the Constitutional Law Committee Heikki Vestman (NCP) suggested that the committee might investigate the rejected ballots issue. He indicated that the number of rejections might have been significant enough to affect the elections' outcome.