Chapter 6 VOTING, COUNTING AND RESULTS TABULATION Background On 30 July 2018, voting was scheduled to occur from 0700 hours to 1900 hours in 10,985 polling stations across the country. Polling stations were primarily located within or outside public facilities such as schools, churches and community centres. For the 2018 elections, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, 131,000 polling officials were recruited to support the process. On Election Day, polling stations were staffed by a presiding officer and supported by up to ten polling officers. Unarmed police officers were also present to maintain law and order. Party agents, accredited citizen and international observers were authorised entry into the polling stations. Each polling station was to contain three translucent ballot boxes for the colour-coded ballot papers. A fourth box was to be available for any postal votes. In accordance with recent amendments to the Electoral Act, the voters roll is polling station specific, therefore voters were required to cast their ballots at the station at which they were registered. The Electoral Act further provides for the assistance of voters with disabilities, and people who are illiterate or infirm. The provision enables the voter to select a person of their choice to assist them. Alternatively, the voter may request assistance from the presiding officer, but the presiding officer is only permitted to render assistance to the voter in the presence of two elections officials and a police officer. To facilitate the franchise of a category of individuals who are unable to vote at their designated polling station because of special circumstances, the Electoral Act provides for postal voting. Those eligible for postal voting include: members of the disciplined forces or electoral officials; those on duty in the service of the government outside Zimbabwe; or the spouse of a person outside Zimbabwe in the service of the Government of Zimbabwe. In order to vote, these categories of individuals had to apply to the Electoral Commission, to enable the commission to establish a postal vote register. Once these individuals were approved, they were provided ballots and a return envelope. The completed ballots were sent back in the sealed envelope to the Electoral Commission to be included in the final vote count on Election Day. The Act also required that political campaigning ended 24 hours before the polls opened on Election Day. 46