The votes cast in Guernsey’s 2025 election are being counted by officials and volunteers at Beau Sejour.
They started work at 08:30 today, 12 and a half hours after the polls closed in the second fully island wide vote held in Guernsey.
The ballot sheets were held at an undisclosed secure location overnight before the count got underway today.
The Sir John Loveridge Hall is closed to the public while the count takes place.
One third of the hall is vacant, one third is being used for opening the postal votes, and the other third is where the scanning and verification is taking place.
Just over 10,000 people had elected for a postal vote so the number of people manning the count is split evenly across the duties.
States CEO Boley Smillie is among the civil servants who are taking a day away from their desk to help with the election.
82 candidates had stood for 38 seats in this election.
27,316 people had registered to vote. With 38 votes each that could mean more than 1,000,000 have to be counted today.
It’s thought many have voted for fewer than the maximum though with both the number cast and turnout predicted to be lower than it was in 2020 for the first island wide vote.
The declaration is not expected to be made before this evening.
The States are sharing updates throughout the day so that candidates and interested members of the public can make their way to Beau Sejour in time for the announcement later.
Candidates are able to view the count taking place.
Those seen by Express at the count this morning included current Deputies Gavin St Pier, Chris Le Tissier, and Adrian Gabriel. Kerensa Gardner and Garry Collins were also there by 09:00.
Candidates Gabriel and Collins told Express they planned to be there all day.
They both agreed that if they went anywhere else today they would be asked ‘how is it going’, so it made sense to base themselves at Beau Sejour so they can observe the count for themselves.
Official election observers were also at Beau Sejour this morning.
The team, also known as the Election Observation Mission, are representing the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
They’ve been observing the build up to the election, polling day, and now the count.
The information they’ve gather and their observations will be put into a report highlighting what they saw and what they recommend ahead of Guernsey’s next election.