Editing Early voting (section)

===Sweden ===
[[File:Advancevotinglocationmalmoe.JPG|thumb|Early voting station in a supermarket in Malmö during the [[2009 European Parliament election in Sweden|European Parliament election 2009]].]]
Sweden has traditionally had a high participation in elections and tries to make it as easy as possible to vote. No voter registration is needed, since everyone is generally [[population registration in Sweden|registered with a home address]], nor is there any requirement to tell the authorities that you intend to vote early. Normally, a voter is expected to vote on the election day at the specified voting station, but everyone can vote during the last week at any early voting station in the country, nowadays usually in municipality-owned places like libraries or schools. Although mainly intended for early voting, one early voting station in each municipality must also be open on the election day (always a Sunday in Sweden), to enable distance voting on that day as well. In hospitals and homes for the elderly, there are special voting opportunities. Swedes living abroad must register their address and can vote at embassies or through mail.<ref>[http://www.val.se/in_english/general_information/voting/index.html Valmyndigheten: Voting] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023114808/http://www.val.se/in_english/general_information/voting/index.html |date=October 23, 2012 }}</ref>

Early voting has been possible in Sweden since 1942, and the [[Posten (Sweden)|post offices]] were used for this until the [[1994 Swedish general election]]. But that year the Swedish postal service was changed from being a government agency to a state-owned limited company that wasn't directly government controlled, so the responsibility for providing early voting fell on the local municipalities, who have always been responsible for the regular voting stations.

The early votes are sent to the voter's regular local voting station in double envelopes, with the voter's name and [[Personal identity number (Sweden)|personal identity number]] on the outer envelope. After the local voting station has closed on election day, officials first check if any of the voters in the stack of early voter envelopes are in the list of voters who have voted at the voting station that day. If that is the case, the early vote is destroyed, with the inner envelope unopened. Otherwise, the inner envelopes are added to a ballot box for counting.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.val.se/det_svenska_valsystemet/rostning/fortidsrosta/index.html |title=Valmyndigheten: Förtidsrösta i Sverige |access-date=November 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023113443/http://www.val.se/det_svenska_valsystemet/rostning/fortidsrosta/index.html |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Early votes that do not reach the voting station in time are shipped to the [[County Administrative Boards of Sweden|County Administrative Board]] and counted if the voter has not already voted.