The counting of votes at the local elections will take place after polling stations close on Friday 11 June 2004. As there are a number of polls, the ballot modules with the vote data will be first loaded into the computer system by the local European returning officer for the taking of the poll at city and county level. The vote data for each poll will then be distributed in a secure manner to the returning officers for the local elections and to the European constituency officers for the purposes of vote counting.
The counting of votes at the local elections will commence on receipt of the vote data, probably around 12 midnight, and counting will continue throughout Saturday morning until the results are available. The time for completion of the local election counts will vary between areas.
EU legal requirements prohibit the official announcement of results in a member state until voting has concluded in all member states. In order to respect this requirement, the counting of the European Parliament votes will be carried out on Sunday 13 June at 9 p.m. The results should be available between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.