ARTICLE 37. Date and Place of Voting.
Voting shall be conducted on the day of the
referendum from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The
division referendum commission shall inform
citizens of the date and place of voting no
later than 10 days prior to the date of the
referendum.
The division referendum commission may complete
voting earlier than 8:00 p.m. in voting divisions
for military units, remote areas, and vessels
at sea on the referendum day, if all citizens
on the list have voted.
ARTICLE 38. Voting Organization.
Voting shall be conducted in specially allocated
premises equipped with an adequate number
of cabins or rooms for secret voting, designated
places for issuing ballots and designated
places for ballot boxes. Ballot boxes shall
be placed so that the citizens, in approaching
them, shall be obliged to walk through the
cabins or rooms for secret voting.
The division referendum commission shall be
responsible for organizing voting, ensuring
the secrecy of the citizens' vote, and supplying
and maintaining the equipment of the premises.
On referendum day, before voting commences,
the Chairperson of the division referendum
commission, in the presence of the other members
of the commission, shall inspect and seal
the ballot boxes.
Every citizen shall vote personally; voting
for another individual is not permitted. Ballots
shall be used by members of the division referendum
commission, in accordance with citizens list
for the appropriate voting division, when
a citizen produces a passport or other document
to establish their identity. Upon issuance
of a ballot, a citizen who has the right to
participate in referendum shall confirm the
issuance of the ballot by placing his/her
signature on the list.
In cases where a citizen cannot personally
come to the voting station due to health or
other reasons, the division referendum commission,
on the citizen's request, shall authorize
a separate member of the commission to organize
voting for those citizens at their place of
residence.
ARTICLE 39. Voting Procedure.
Ballots shall be completed by citizens in
secret cabins or rooms. The presence of any
other person while the citizen completes the
ballot is prohibited. A citizen who cannot
complete the ballots personally has the right
to invite another person of his choice into
the cabin or room, except members of the referendum
commission.
While completing the ballot, the citizen shall
strike out one of two words: "yes"
or "no".
When two or more referenda are conducted simultaneously,
or when two or more questions are submitted
to the referendum, the citizens shall receive
and complete ballots separately for each referendum
and each question.
The completed ballots shall be dropped by
the citizen into the ballot box.
ARTICLE 40. The Tabulation of Votes at the
Voting Station.
Tabulation of votes at the voting station
shall be performed by the division referendum
commission.
After the Chairperson's announcement of completion
of the voting, the division referendum commission
shall open ballot boxes, as well as closed
envelopes handed over to the commission by
the citizens, who changed the place of their
residence. The opening of ballot boxes and
envelopes before the completion of the voting
is prohibited. Before ballot boxes and envelopes
shall be opened, the division referendum commission
cancels and counts all unused ballots.
The division referendum commission on the
basis of the list of citizens, who have the
right to participate in the referendum, shall
calculate the general number of citizens,
as well as the number of citizens who received
ballots. On the basis of ballots in the ballot
boxes and in closed envelopes the commission
shall determine the general number of citizens
who participated in the referendum; the number
of citizens who voted "for" the
draft of the law or resolution submitted to
the referendum, and the number of citizens,
who voted against and the number of void ballots.
Ballots which are unidentified, as well as
those where the intent of the voter is not
clear are deemed void. Any doubts as to the
authenticity of the ballot shall be resolved
by a vote of the division referendum commission.
The division referendum commission shall review
at its session the results of the tabulation
of the votes which are entered into the minutes
of the session. If two or more referenda were
conducted simultaneously, minutes shall be
compiled separately for each of them. The
minutes shall be signed by the Chairperson,
Deputy Chairperson, Secretary and members
of the commission and shall be sent immediately
to the appropriate rayon, city, city rayon,
settlement and village commission on the referendum.
ARTICLE 41. Determining the Results of the
Referendum.
On the basis of the minutes from division
referendum commissions, the city, (cities
without rayon subdivisions), city rayon, settlement,
and village referendum commission determines:
the general number of citizens who have the
right to participate in a referendum, the
number of citizens who received ballots;
the number of citizens who participated in
voting;
the number of citizens who voted for approval
of the draft of the law or resolution, and
the number of citizens who voted against its
approval;
the number of invalid ballots.
The appropriate commission shall review the
results of the tabulation and enter them into
the minutes and send them to the higher standing
referendum commission. On the basis of submitted
minutes the commission of the Republic of
Crimea on the All-Ukrainian referendum, and
oblast, rayon, city (cities with rayon subdivisions)
referendum commissions shall tabulate votes
within the administrative and territorial
unit and enter the results into the minutes,
and then shall send them to the higher standing
referendum commission.
On the basis of minutes from oblast referendum
commissions, the Central Commission on All-Ukrainian
referendum determines the results of the All-Ukrainian
referendum and enters them into the protocol.
When a local referendum is conducted within
the oblast, rayon, city, city rayon, settlement
and village council territory the appropriate
referendum commission at its session shall
determine its results and enter them into
the protocol. The protocol with the vote tabulation
results or referendum results shall be signed
by the Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary
and members of the appropriate referendum
commission.
The appropriate referendum commission can
announce referendum results void if violations
of this Law have taken place during the voting
or the tabulation of votes.
The draft of the law or resolution shall be
considered approved if more than fifty percent
of those citizens who participated in the
referendum, voted for this law or resolution.
The referendum shall be considered not to
be conducted if less than 50% of the citizens
on the voter list participated in voting,
and a referendum on pre-term termination of
the authority of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
and the President of Ukraine shall be considered
not conducted if less than two-thirds of the
citizens on the voter list participated in
it.
The results of the referendum shall be published
by the appropriate commission no later than
ten days after the referendum. The announcement
shall include: the legal number of citizens
who voted for support of the draft of the
law, the resolution submitted to the referendum;
and the number of citizens who voted against
its approval; the number of void ballots.
ARTICLE 42. Openness During the Determination
of Referendum Results.
The representatives from labor collectives,
public organizations, political parties, mass
movements, professional technical mid-level
and higher educational institutions, citizens
meetings on the territory of their domicile
and servicemen in the military units, and
state bodies have the right to be present
at referendum commission meetings, during
tabulation of votes and determining the voting
results. The authority of these designated
representatives shall be certified by written
order or certificate.
The appropriate commissions shall be informed
regarding the intention of representatives
to be present at voting station premises or
at referendum commission meetings no later
than two days prior to the voting day. The
interference by representatives with the work
of the referendum commissions is prohibited.
The representatives can be deprived the right
to be present at referendum commission meetings
only when they have no appropriate written
order or certificate.
Representatives can be present at premises
for the voting or voting division commission
meetings formed in military districts, with
the exception of those cases when their activity
is conducted in secrete military units. The
list of such voting divisions and commissions
shall be determined by the Central Commission
on All-Ukrainian referendum together with
commanders of the appropriate military districts.
Representatives of the mass media shall be
guaranteed unrestricted access to all assemblies
and meetings related to referendum. Referendum
commissions, and state bodies shall provide
them with information about the conduct of
the referendum.
ARTICLE 43. Repeat Referenda.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine within a month,
and the appropriate local Council of peoples'
deputies - within 15 days, may declare a repeat
All-Ukrainian or local referendum on the whole
territory of Ukraine, the appropriate administrative
and territorial unit or its part, if during
the course of All-Ukrainian or local referendum
there were serious violations of this law.
In such a case the decision to appoint new
members of the referendum commission may be
adopted.
