# The Scottish Local Government Elections Order 2011, Paragraph 50: Transfer of surplus votes – supplementary provisions


(1) If, at the end of any stage of the count, the number of votes credited to two or more candidates exceeds the quota the returning officer shall—
(a) first sort the ballot papers of the candidate with the highest surplus; and
(b) then transfer the transferable papers of that candidate.
(2) If the surpluses determined in respect of two or more candidates are equal, the transferable papers of the candidate who had the highest number of votes at the end of the most recent preceding stage at which they had unequal numbers of votes shall be transferred first.
(3) If the numbers of votes credited to two or more candidates were equal at all stages of the count, the returning officer shall decide, by lot, which candidate’s transferable papers are to be transferred first.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/sdsi/2011/9780111014639/schedule/1/paragraph/50 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-scottish-local-government-elections-order-2011/schedule-1/paragraph-50
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.