Electoral Court warns LLA has not provided enough ballots to polling stations

According to a report, the coalition’s ‘deficient delivery of ballots’ means there aren’t enough for Buenos Aires province

The Buenos Aires province branch of the National Electoral Court informed the far-right coalition La Libertad Avanza (LLA) that they had not provided enough ballots for the polling stations in the district. 

In a report published on Saturday, the court said that in some cases LLA had only delivered a fourth of the suggested number of ballots to ensure normal election proceedings. Due to irregularities in the ballots that were delivered, the court ordered the coalition to provide details on the number of ballots sent in future.

For this election, each of the two competing coalitions should provide polling stations — such as schools — with a maximum of 350 ballots per polling desk in Buenos Aires province. They are also expected to provide extra packages of ballots in case they need to be replaced. However, “so far, LLA has delivered a substantially lower number of ballots in their packages,” compared to the contending coalition, Unión por la Patria (UxP).

According to the report, in many cases, there aren’t enough ballots to distribute across all the polling desks of the province’s municipalities. This would force the electoral authorities to take ballots out of the replacement packages or even from other municipalities to complete the necessary number of ballots in other polling desks.

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The court also said LLA sent the ballots in cardboard boxes or black plastic bags when regulations mandate that they are meant to be in heat-sealed bags that allow for easy inspection of their contents.

While the electoral court confirmed that UxP sent packages with 350 ballots each in clear plastic bags, LLA sent different numbers of ballots in each bag. Some had less than 90 ballots in them, the document said.

“Such a deficient ballot delivery as observed by LLA does not comply with the requisites established by this court for the best proceedings for election day.”

The court also emphasized that the coalitions are responsible for printing and distributing the necessary ballots for the election. The state transferred AR$258 million to each coalition for printing costs.

In response, LLA’s technical representative Fernando Cerimedo claimed on Twitter that “there are more than enough ballots, we’re just not going to give them to the Kirchnerite thieves who handle their distribution.”

Since late October, the coalition has been attempting to establish a narrative of electoral fraud, particularly surrounding polling station volunteers and the vote count. There has been no evidence of irregularities, with the general election showing the lowest-ever difference between the provisional and final vote tallies.

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