Summary
Methods to facilitate voting may include making special provision for members of the military to vote.
Obligations
Criteria
Quotes
- The Court takes note of the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practices in Electoral Matters, which stresses that military servicemen should preferably vote in ordinary polling stations and notes that safeguards should be put in place to prevent “the risk of superior officers imposing or ordering certain political choices”. The Court agrees that such a risk cannot be taken lightly.
- Military personnel should vote at their place of residence whenever possible. Otherwise, it is advisable that they be registered to vote at the polling station nearest to their duty station.
- Where servicemen cannot return home on polling day, they should preferably be registered at polling stations near their barracks. Details of the servicemen concerned are sent by the local command to the municipal authorities who then enter the names in the electoral list. The one exception to this rule is when the barracks are too far from the nearest polling station. Within the military units, special commissions should be set up to supervise the preelection period, in order to prevent the risk of superior officers’ imposing or ordering certain political choices.
- It is common and acceptable for the electoral framework to have special provisions ensuring that a member of the military is able to exercise the right to vote while on active duty. ... Concerning military voters, it is not unusual for the legal framework to permit special polling stations to be set up within military units located in remote areas far from any centre of population...wherever possible, military voters should vote in ordinary civilian polling stations.
- [M]ilitary personnel should vote at their place of residence whenever possible. Otherwise, it is advisable that they be registered to vote at the polling station nearest to their duty station.
- In many countries, military personnel are entitled to vote at civilian polling stations… However, voting may also be organised in the barracks, which may be difficult to observe.
- In such cases where voting is permitted in military barracks, prisons and hospitals, the process can be open to abuse potentially undermining the principles of secrecy and freedom of choice.
- Special voting procedures may include the use of mobile ballot boxes intended for the sick and elderly, voting in hospitals and prisons, early voting, voting by post, voting in embassies, and special provisions for military voting.