# The Health Board Elections (Scotland) Regulations 2009, Paragraph 38: First stage


(1) The returning officer must sort the valid ballot papers into parcels according to the candidates for whom first preference votes are given.
(2) The returning officer must then—
(a) count the number of ballot papers in each parcel;
(b) credit the candidate receiving the first preference vote with one vote for each ballot paper in that candidate’s parcel; and
(c) record those numbers.
(3) The returning officer must also ascertain and record the total number of valid ballot papers.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2009/352/schedule/paragraph/38 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/health-board-elections-scotland-regulations-2009/schedule/paragraph-38
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.