Election authority still checking early-voting errors in 64 municipalities

Sweden’s election authority has not yet ruled out errors in advance voting in 64 municipalities, with just over two days remaining before the election, SVT reported on Friday.

“The analysis is still ongoing,” the authority said in a press release.

The authority initially warned that up to 4,000 people could have been affected by the error, but later revised the estimate to 500. On Friday morning, it had ruled out problems in 226 municipalities.

The review concerns potentially incorrect registrations made between August 26 and September 3. The authority said it was continuing to work with the remaining municipalities to determine whether any voters had been affected.

Voters who have already voted in advance are being urged not to do so again, as this would invalidate their vote. They may, however, cast a new vote at their polling station on election day.

The authority said it would not be able to contact affected voters because it did not know who they were. It said it would provide information as soon as possible about polling places and times where voters could still be affected by incorrect registrations, giving them the opportunity to vote again on election day.

More than three million people have so far voted in advance, an increase of 21 per cent compared with the same period during the 2022 election.

“We continue to see strong interest in advance voting in this year’s election,” Anna Nyqvist, head of the Election Authority’s office, said in the press release.