Section 64 Nigerian Electoral Act
Section 64 Electoral Act 2022 is about Endorsement on rejected ballot paper without official mark. It is under Part IV (Procedure at Election) of the Act.
(1) The presiding officer shall endorse the word “rejected” on the ballot paper rejected under section 52(1) of this Act and for any other reason, and the ballot papers shall not be counted except otherwise
allowed by the returning officer who may overrule the presiding officer.
(2) If an objection to the decision of a presiding officer to reject a ballot paper is raised by a candidate or
a polling agent at the time the decision is made, the presiding officer shall add to the word “rejected”, the
phrase “but objected to”.
(3) The presiding officer shall prepare a statement on rejected ballot papers, stating the number rejected,
the reason for rejection and their serial number, and he or she shall on request, allow a candidate or a
polling agent to copy the statement.
(4) A collation officer or returning officerat an election shall collate and announce the result of an
election, subject to his or her verification and confirmation that the—
(a) number of accredited voters stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 47 (2) of this Act ;
and
(b) the votes stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 60 (4) of this Act.
(5) Subject to subsection (1), a collation officer or returning officer shall use the number of accredited
voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 47 (2) of this Act and the votes
or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under section 60 (4) of this Act to collate
and announce the result of an election if a collated result at his or a lower level of collation is not correct.
(6) Where during collation of results, there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result of an
election from any polling unit, the collation officer or returning officer shall use the following to
determine the correctness of the disputed result—
(a) the original of the disputed collated result for each polling unit where the election is disputed ;
(b) the smart card reader or other technology device used for accreditation of voters in each polling unit
where the election is disputed for the purpose of obtaining accreditation data directly from the smart card reader or technology device ;
(c) data of accreditation recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is
disputed as prescribed under section 47 (2) of this Act ; and
(d) the votes and result of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the
election is disputed, as prescribed under section 60 (4) of this Act.
(7) If the disputed result under subsection (6) were otherwise found not to be correct, the collation officer
or returning officer shall re-collate and announce a new result using the information in subsection (6) (a)-
(d).
(8) Where the dispute under subsection (6) arose at the level of collation and the returning officer has
satisfied the provision of subsection (6) (a)-(d), the returning officer shall accordingly declare the winner
of the election.
(9) A returning officer or collation officer, as the case may be, commits an offence if he or she
intentionally collates or announces a false result and is liable on conviction to a fine of N5,000,000 or
imprisonment for a term of at least three years or both.
