1 State - People - Authorities - 14 Political Rights - Chapter One Registers of Electors (RELDP)

The communal register of electors is organized in alphabetical order and contains at least the following information for each elector

a) the last name, first name(s), and place of origin;

b) the date of birth;

c) the gender;

d) the address;

e) the date of submission of the legitimization documents in the municipality and in the canton;

f) the indication of the matters (federal, cantonal, communal) in which the elector holds political rights;

g) the mention of being a Swiss elector abroad.

1. Any person who believes they ought to be registered or has been wrongly removed may at any time request the Municipal Council to add their name to the register.

2. Any voter who believes that a person has been wrongly registered may at any time request the Municipal Council to remove that person from the register.

3. The person whose registration is contested shall be heard.

4. The Municipal Council shall decide without delay and communicate its decision to the person concerned.

The central register contains at least, for each voter, the data provided in Article 1, with the exception of its item e.

1 The provisions of Article 2 are applicable to the correction of the register.

2. Corrections to the register must be made by Tuesday preceding the election at 5:00 PM.

3. No further corrections to the register can be made until the closing of the poll.

1. For federal ballots, amendments to the register are considered until the Tuesday preceding the ballot at 5:00 PM.

2. No further amendments can be made to the register until the close of the ballot.

[2] The Department of Security, Digitalization, and Culture communicates to the Municipal Council the names of individuals prohibited due to mental illness or deficiency, who are not eligible to vote.

Individuals prohibited from voting due to mental illness or mental weakness may be reinstated in the electoral body if they request it and prove that they are capable of discernment.

[3] The Department of Security, Digitalization, and Culture (hereinafter: the Department) is the competent department for making decisions regarding the reinstatement of individuals banned from the electoral body.

1. The request for reinstatement must be submitted to the department, accompanied by a medical certificate concerning the capacity for discernment of the interdicted person.

2. The department reviews the request and makes a decision.

[4] 1 The decision of the department may be appealed to the Cantonal Court.

2. The appeal procedure is governed by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) of March 18, 2025 [5].

1. The State Chancellery issues instructions to municipal administrations and election and counting offices on the procedures to follow.

2. For municipal votes and elections, the State Chancellery establishes directives regarding the presentation of ballots and electoral ballots to allow, in particular, centralized enveloping and counting by means of electronic data processing.

1. The Municipal Council ensures that the polling stations are equipped with all the necessary materials for the elections.

2. The following are indispensable

b) a ballot box designated to receive the stamped voting envelopes.

3. The Municipal Council ensures that ballot papers, electoral ballots, voting envelopes, documentation related to the election, as well as the necessary number of copies of the legal provisions concerning the election, are available at the polling station in the voting premises, along with the minutes forms.

The polling station does not issue a voter's card or a duplicate.

The equitable financial contribution owed by the municipalities or by the inter-municipal unions for municipal ballots and the ballots of inter-municipal unions is set at 60% of the postal costs they generate if no federal or cantonal item is submitted for voting.

The polling must be open on Sunday from at least 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

1. The chairperson of each polling station exercises control over the operations they oversee.

2. They take, if possible with the advice of the other members of the electoral office, all necessary measures to maintain order within and around the voting premises.

3. They order the expulsion of those who, after an initial warning, persist in showing signs of approval or disapproval or in disturbing the order in any way.

4. The measures taken are recorded in the minutes, and the offenders are reported to the public prosecutor's office.

5. If necessary, the chairperson calls upon the cantonal or municipal police authorities, who are required to act upon their requests.

1. If the application of an elderly, sick, or disabled person is accepted, at least two members of the electoral office will go to their residence with the voting materials, except for the voting card, to collect their vote, which will then be delivered to the electoral office to be placed in the ballot box.

2. A voter who is unable to perform the necessary acts to exercise their right to vote due to infirmities may be assisted, either at their residence or at the voting location, by at least two members of the electoral office.

3. The chairwoman or chairman of the electoral office proceeds with the necessary appointments.

1. A duplicate voting card is a newly printed voting card specifically issued with a new number.

2. It is printed by the municipality.

3. It replaces and invalidates the lost voting card or the one containing erroneous information.

4. The duplicate is only issued on the condition that the voter has not yet exercised their right to vote.

5. The voter can obtain a duplicate, upon presentation of an identity document, from their municipality of residence during the opening hours of the counters.

1. The Municipal Council is responsible for the opening of the vote-by-mail transmission envelopes.

2. Vote envelopes accompanied by a voting card that do not contain the signature and/or date of birth are not considered.

3. These envelopes are placed in a separate package and transmitted to the chairperson of the counting office.

4. The Municipal Council takes all necessary measures to enable municipal chanceries or municipal administrators to carry out this task safely.

1. Voting materials contained in the transmission envelopes must be kept in a secure, closed facility.

2. The Municipal Council determines the procedures for the conservation of voting materials.

1. Postal votes shall be placed in a special ballot box separate from the ballot boxes at polling stations.

2. From the opening of the poll until the counting operations, the ballot box must be kept under adequate security conditions.

3. The ballot box cannot be stored in any of the polling stations.

4. The Municipal Council shall regulate the modalities for the safekeeping of the ballot box.

1. The request for authorization to appoint the same individuals as members of the electoral office and the counting office must be submitted to the Council of State no later than ten days after the publication of the decree calling the voters.

2. No authorization will be granted for federal, cantonal, and communal elections.

At least one member of the municipal administration with the necessary knowledge must be part of the counting office.

1. Persons unable to participate in the voting offices must submit a justified request for exemption to the Municipal Council at least ten days before the date of the election, accompanied by supporting documents.

2. Only compelling reasons are taken into consideration.

1. When there are multiple polling places in a municipality, the president of the general office oversees the voting at the main polling place.

2. For each polling place, a member of the office is responsible for managing the operations.

1. The members of the electoral office convene sufficiently early before the commencement of voting operations in the polling station allocated to them.

2. The chairperson of the main polling station, or the member assuming this role in other stations, informs the members about the conduct of operations and their respective duties.

1. The electoral office or its sections, if there are multiple voting locations, may divide into groups for the management and supervision of the operations.

2. Throughout the entire duration of these operations, at least three of its members must be present in the voting location.

1. A ballot box is established for each polling station exclusively for the votes cast at the polling station and for the votes collected at home.

2. The ballot boxes are subject to appropriate supervision as determined by the president of the main location or the member who assumes this role in the other locations.

1. Prior to any voting operation, the electoral office verifies that the ballot boxes are empty and affixes the seals.

2. The same ballot boxes are used throughout the entire duration of the election and remain sealed until they are opened for counting.

1. The electoral office suspends voting operations precisely at 12:00 p.m. and declares the poll closed.

2. Voting is prohibited once this closure is announced.

The Municipal Council may convene the members of the offices before the election day to provide them with instructions.

1. The members of the counting office shall meet at the counting location at the time set by the municipality to begin the operations of counting the votes from the mail-in ballot box.

2. The chairwoman or chairman shall inform the members about the procedure of the operations and their respective tasks.

1. The public is not admitted into the counting area during the counting of mail-in votes.

2. Upon the closing of the poll, the public is admitted as long as the course of the counting operations allows.

1. The absentee ballot box is transferred, sealed, and accompanied by two members of the office, to the counting room at the time set for counting.

2. The ballot boxes from the polling places are transferred, sealed, and accompanied by two members of the office, to the counting room immediately upon the close of the poll.

3. Before the counting of the ballot boxes from the polling places may begin, the counting office unseals these boxes and mixes their contents with the contents of the main room's ballot box.

The counting of postal votes that takes place before the closing of the polls must be conducted at the counting location.

1. The President shall take all security measures to ensure the confidentiality of the ballot and to exclude any actions that could influence it.

2. Specifically, he or she ensures that

a) all individual communications with the outside from the counting room are rendered impossible;

b) members are not allowed to leave the counting room before the closing of the ballot, subject to exceptions for which he or she regulates the procedures on a case-by-case basis.

3. After the implementation of these security measures, the counting of the ballots may proceed.

1. Unstamped envelopes found in the ballot boxes are set aside and not taken into account.

2. Ballot papers or votes not contained in a voting envelope, as well as any other extraneous documents found in the ballot boxes, are also set aside and not considered.

3. After this verification, the counting of the voting envelopes is carried out.

The counting location may be the same as the main polling station if the counting of postal votes does not begin before the close of the poll.

Unless otherwise instructed by the State Chancellery, the counting begins, in the case of multiple ballots, with federal items, followed by cantonal, and finally communal items.

1 In the counting of ballots, the process begins by determining the total number of ballots for each voting or election.

2. The ballots are then divided into three groups

c) valid ballots.

3. Doubtful ballots are submitted to the counting office, which decides their fate by a majority of its present members.

The counting office then proceeds to determine the results.

1. The board prepares the minutes of the ballot, in two copies, using the official form established by the State Chancellery.

2. In federal matters, the minutes are drawn up in three copies.

3. The minutes are signed by all members of the electoral and counting boards.

4. If members of the boards have remarks to make regarding the content of the minutes, they may have them recorded therein.

5. The minutes shall mention the boards' observations concerning the voting rights of certain voters and authorizations to leave the counting premises, as well as decisions regarding the validity of dubious ballots, all accompanied by a brief rationale.

6. The minutes shall also state

a) the date and purpose of the ballot;

b) the names of the board members;

c) the results of the operations in accordance with the law on political rights;

d) the names of board members who were absent or who left without authorization.

The State Chancellery is responsible for reporting the offenses mentioned in the official reports or brought to its attention by any other means.

1. The counting bureau transmits the election results to the State Chancellery via Intranet, provided that the municipality is connected to the Cantonal Node, as soon as the counting is completed.

2. The election results are transmitted by telephone by the counting bureau for the other municipalities.

1. The counting office immediately sends a copy of the minutes of the ballot to the State Chancellery, two in federal matters, with annexes if applicable.

2. A copy of the minutes of the ballot is delivered to the Municipal Council to be filed in the municipal archives.

3. The Municipal Council promptly sends the ballots and the electoral ballots stapled to the voting envelopes to the State Chancellery, under sealed cover.

4. Municipalities retain the voting cards and voting envelopes not taken into account until the expiration of the appeal period, and they may subsequently destroy them, with the prior agreement of the State Chancellery.

5. Municipalities may immediately destroy the transmission envelopes.

6. Blank ballots and those declared void, as well as the corresponding envelopes, are packed separately for each ballot and labeled appropriately.

[6] 1 Each list must contain

a) the designation for which exclusive and enduring use has been previously obtained;

b) the official surname and first name(s); the commonly used name; the gender; the date of birth; the place of origin, including the canton to which they belong; the profession and the full address of the candidates, including the postal code.

c) where applicable, the indication of relatedness.

2. The Municipal Council validates the lists before their submission to the State Chancellery.

1 Ballot Papers Reproducing Lists Must Contain at Least

a) The designation and the order number assigned by the State Chancellery or the Municipal Council;

b) If applicable, the indication of alliance;

c) The names and first names of the candidates.

2. Handwritten ballots are to be written entirely by the hand of the voter on a sheet of paper that is blank on both sides.

The Municipal Council allocates the display panels, in equal numbers and in comparable situations, to each party or group of voters that has submitted a list.

Ballots that, for the same matter, appear in multiple copies within an envelope are identical if they bear the names of the same candidates, regardless of their order or the designation of the ballot.

1. The State Chancellery proceeds with the appointment of the three members of the commission responsible for the drawing of lots.

2. It chooses them from among the outgoing members of the Grand Council Office.

3. If necessary, the commission meets to conduct the drawing of lots as soon as the verification checks are completed.

The State Chancellery and the municipalities provide information to the voters who request it concerning their rights and obligations regarding initiatives, referendums, and popular motions.

The certificate of deposit of signatures for attestation with the Municipal Council indicates the date of deposit, the identity of the depositor, and the provisional number of signatures.

1. When the certificate is refused, the reason for the refusal is indicated using one of the following formulas

h) incorrect date of birth.

2. The municipal administration indicates on each list the number of valid signatures and the number of null signatures. The certificate is dated and signed.

1. At the request of the competent authority to formally validate the popular initiative, the referendum request, or the popular motion, the municipal administration shall remedy any defects affecting the certification.

2. Defects must be remedied when

a) the certification of the voter's status has not been properly established;

b) the refusal of certification is not justified;

c) the signatory can be easily identified, despite incomplete details.

Once submitted, the lists of signatures cannot be returned or consulted.

When both an initiative and a counter-project are submitted together to a vote by the people, the questions are posed as follows

Answer "yes" or "no"

1.

Do you accept the popular initiative

"..................................."?

Answer "yes" or "no"

2.

Do you accept the counter-project of the

Grand Council * "..................................."?

(* where applicable, the counter-project of the

General Council)

Initiative

Counter-project

3.

Subsidiary question

If the people accept both the initiative and the counter-project, should it be the initiative or the counter-project that enters into force?

Express your choice by placing a cross in the appropriate box as follows

The Implementing Regulation of the Law on Political Rights, dated May 15, 1985 [7], is repealed.

This regulation must be approved by the Confederation.

1. This regulation comes into force on the day of its approval by the Confederation.

2. It will be published in the Official Gazette and inserted into the Neuchâtel Legislative Compendium.

Regulation approved by the Confederation on February 21, 2003.