Tuesday morning began the hand counting of ballots submitted nationwide in Sunday’s elections.  At each voting table the votes were counted and tabulated, then sealed in a bag for delivery to the TSE building in San Jose.  The election results seen in the local media or on the TSE web site are a result of the tabulation of the reports given from each table.

The hand count involves opening the bag and verifying the table reports. This makes the polling station report official and will eventually lead to an official result.

During the counting the 5 magistrates and 4 alternates magistrates will work 10 hours per day. Each magistrate will be in charge of one of 5 tables, where as many as 13 TSE employees will scrutinize each ballot to make sure it is a valid vote, and to count correctly who it is for.  Each party may send an observer to verify the counting.  The process may take up to 30 days by law, but TSE officials expect to complete the counting in 14 days.