“Logistics of Collecting and Storing Foreign Votes in Turkey”
Voting for Turkish citizens living abroad will continue until May 9th. Ballots will close at 5pm on Sunday May 14th at the customs gates, where 4,671 customs ballot box committees have been established for this specific purpose. From there, the votes will be transported to Turkey, and then forwarded to the Overseas District Election Board. For Turkish citizens living in Europe, THY will lease three planes to bring the votes back to Turkey. The leased aircrafts will be accompanied by the ‘Voting Bags Transfer Commission’ who will be responsible for the transportation of the ballot boxes. Diplomatic couriers assigned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a sufficient number of personnel assigned by YSK will also be present on the aircraft.
For the votes from representative offices where planes cannot reach, diplomatic couriers or Ballot Box Storage and Transport Boards will be used to transport the ballots. The votes will be delivered safely under the supervision of law enforcement officers. The Overseas District Election Board in Ankara will oversee the reception and count of all votes cast abroad.
It is essential for voters to place two separate ballot papers of their choice for president and deputies in the same envelope and put it in the ballot box. In the event of the invalidity of one election type in the ballot papers, it will not necessarily invalidate the other. Lack of seals, tearing or damaging the ballot paper, printing any special sign, name, signature stamp or fingerprint on the ballot paper other than the seal or instead of the seal, will also invalidate the vote.
All Turkish citizens abroad should make use of their right to vote before May 9th to ensure their voices are heard.
