Election Commission Members Convicted After Swapping Vote Tallies in Wieniec

Nine members of a polling station committee in Wieniec have been convicted for clerical errors that wrongly swapped vote tallies between presidential candidates Karol Nawrocki and Rafał Trzaskowski.

Negligence in the Counting Process

The case concerns Precinct Election Commission No. 4 in Wieniec, Brześć Kujawski municipality. During the second round of the presidential election, members recorded 466 votes for Karol Nawrocki and 331 for Rafał Trzaskowski, despite the candidate from the Civic Coalition actually receiving more votes than his opponent.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Włocławek filed an indictment against the nine members in November, charging them with failure to perform their duties. The defendants claimed the error was unintentional, resulting from carelessness and a failure to verify the electronically prepared protocol.

Court Rulings and Fines

On Thursday, the court fined the commission chairman and his deputy 1,800 and 1,500 PLN, respectively, and ordered them to cover court costs. For the remaining seven members, the court conditionally discontinued the proceedings for a three-year probationary period, requiring each to pay 1,500 PLN to the Fund for Victims’ Aid and Post-Penitentiary Assistance.

National Scope of Election Irregularities

The National Prosecutor’s Office reported that inspections of 250 polling stations across Poland revealed discrepancies in 84 cases, including 16 instances where votes were falsely attributed to the wrong candidate. Investigations into these irregularities, including those in Elbląg and Włocław, remain ongoing.

Similar cases are appearing nationwide, such as in the Barlinek municipality, where prosecutors have requested a conditional discontinuation of criminal proceedings against nine commission members who incorrectly tallied votes between Trzaskowski and Nawrocki.