Voting on Election Day
On election day the polling stations are open between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. There is at least one polling station in every municipality, and the total number is approximately 2000. Voters may cast their votes at the polling station in the voting register and on the card sent to them before the elections.
Before going to the polling station:
1. You must have an identity card issued by the police, a passport, a driving licence or another official photo ID with you when you go to the polling station. If you do not have such a document, you can apply to the nearest police station for a free temporary ID card to vote. To apply for it, you need two passport photos up to six months old.
2. On election day, you may only vote at your own polling station, i.e. at the polling station indicated on the ballot paper received by you. The statement of voting rights itself is not required for the vote, but you can take it with you if you wish. If for some reason you have not received the notification, you can inquire about it and / or its information content from the Digital and Demographic Information Agency. You can also ask for your own polling station on the election service number 0800 9 4770. You can also search for your polling station on polling day from the polling station service (from 18.3.2023 onwards).
3. If you want to find out the candidate number of your candidate in advance, you can find it in the information and result service of the Ministry of Justice.
Candidate numbers can also be seen in the candidates ’own election advertisements as well as in the media.
4. You can bring your own election assistant if, for example, you are unable to record your own vote. However, a personal election assistant cannot be a candidate in the election or his or her spouse, child, sibling or parent. If you do not have your own assistant, there will be a special election assistant at the polling station.
At the polling station on election day:
1. Show your ID to an election official. The official will check your name on the electoral roll and give you one purple and one white ballot. Use the purple ballot to vote for a candidate in the county elections and the white ballot to vote for a candidate in the municipal elections. Helsinki residents will only get a white ballot. The election official will also record that you have voted in the electoral roll.
The voting at the polling station is managed by an election board. The election board is made up of five people, three of whom must always be present.
2. Take the ballots and go to a voting booth. There will be a pen in the booth as well as two master lists of candidates. You can check the number of your candidates in the county and municipal elections on these lists. The master list of candidates for the county elections is purple, and the master list of candidates for the municipal elections is white. If you need help marking the ballot, a polling assistant will assist you in the voting booth.
3. Use the pen to write the number of the candidate you wish to vote for in the county elections on the purple ballot, and the number of the candidate you wish to vote for in the municipal elections on the white ballot. Do not write anything else on the ballot.
Instructions for voters on marking the ballot (Available in Finnish and Swedish).
4. After marking the numbers on the ballots, fold the ballots in half so that the number is inside the fold and cannot be seen on the outside.
5. Take the folded ballots and go to the election official in charge of the ballot box. The official will stamp both of your ballots.
6. Drop the stamped ballots into the ballot box. The polling station may have either one or two ballot boxes. You can then leave the polling station.
