Resolving Disputes from the 2013 Elections in Kenya and the Emerging Jurisprudence the validity of each ballot paper and ensure that the rejected ballot papers or votes are not taken into account in favor of any candidate; that valid ballots are not rejected and that the votes of every candidate are correctly credited to him or her. In sorting out the ballot papers used in an election, there are those that are “spoilt” and others that are “rejected.” The distinction between a “spoilt” ballot paper and a “rejected” vote is important. It is manifest from Regulation 71 of the Election Regulations that a spoiled ballot paper is one that is inadvertently wrongly marked and cannot be used for the intended purpose of casting a vote.61 It is never cast into a ballot box. Instead, it is replaced with another one. A rejected ballot paper or vote, on the other hand, is a ballot paper that is cast into a ballot box, which is, however, declared invalid during the scrutiny at the close of polling. Regulation 77(1) of the Election Regulations sets out the criteria for determination of rejected votes or ballot papers as: lack of the Commission (IEBC) security features on a ballot paper; a ballot paper bearing different serial numbers from those supplied to the polling station concerned; or the ones on which the voter’s choice is indeterminate. Any other ballot papers with more than one mark or those marked outside the required box are to be accepted as long as the voter’s choice is clearly discernable from them.62 After the determination of rejected votes, the valid ones are counted and the results are then announced. The presiding officer then seals up the votes and other voting materials in the ballot boxes and transmits them to the returning officer.63 The determination of the rejected votes in turn may determine the winners and losers of the election concerned. As regards the election of the President, the figures compiled from the polling stations are important in the 61 The Election Regulations, 2012, Regulation 71 provides that “A voter who has inadvertently dealt with his or her ballot paper in such a manner that it cannot be conveniently used as a ballot paper may, on delivering it to the presiding officer and providing to the satisfaction of such officer the fact of the inadvertence, obtain another ballot paper in the place of the ballot paper so delivered and the spoilt ballot paper shall be immediately cancelled and the counterfoil thereof marked accordingly.” 62 Regulation 76(4) of the Election Regulations gives each candidate the right to dispute the inclusion of rejected votes in the computation of votes count or oppose the exclusion of a ballot paper on the ground that it is a rejected vote. 63 At the completion of scrutiny at the polling stations, Regulation 81 of the Election Regulations requires presiding officers to “seal in separate tamper proof envelopes—(a) the counted ballot papers which are not disputed; (b) the rejected ballot papers together with the statements relating thereto; (c) the disputed ballot papers; and (d) the ‘rejected objected to’ ballot papers,” and put them into an empty ballot box and transmit them to the returning officer. 252