Vote receiver with connection to gang crime in Stockholm

Voters have a central role when Swedish elections are conducted. They receive voters' votes, check ballot envelopes and identity and participate in the preliminary vote count.

DN has requested information on who worked in polling stations during this year's parliamentary elections, in a selection of the country's larger municipalities. We have then investigated whether the persons appear in legal cases relating to crime that could affect trust in the assignment.

In most of the municipalities examined, DN has found few or no such cases. However, the city of Stockholm stands out.

At least four people who worked as vote receivers in the city of Stockholm have connections to gang crime. These are people who have been prosecuted for crimes in the gang environment.

One of them is a 20-year-old woman who worked in a polling station in southern Stockholm. She was charged in 2024 for, among other things, serious weapons offenses and drug offences.

During a search of the house, the police found eleven live military 9-millimeter cartridges in her bedroom. She was convicted of violating the Arms Act for possession of the ammunition.

She was, however, acquitted of felony weapons and drug charges related to a semi-automatic handgun and cocaine found at her criminal boyfriend's home.

The court judged that the weapon had been possessed in a criminal environment where it could be feared that it would be used criminally.

The Probation Service at the Correctional Service judged that she was not suitable for community service.

Another recipient of the vote is a man in his 30s who worked with early voting in Stockholm. He appears in a large number of criminal cases, including drug offences, threats against officials, assault and sexual harassment. The police authority has assessed that the man has a relationship with organized crime according to EU criteria. According to the police, it is about crime that "has a negative impact on the local community".

The third person was charged in 2024 with drug offenses after nearly half a kilo of cannabis was found in her apartment. She was acquitted because it was not proven that she knew the drugs. In the same case, her then-boyfriend and two other men were convicted of serious weapons offenses and drug offenses in the gang environment. The court ruled that the weapon had been possessed in a criminal environment where it could be feared that it would be used criminally.

The fourth person was sentenced in 2025 for crimes connected to drug trafficking in the gang environment. In the investigation, there are chats on encrypted messaging services about drug deliveries and large amounts of cash.

In addition to the four people with connections to gang crime, DN has identified a further 69 vote recipients in the city of Stockholm who have been prosecuted or received a penalty in the past two years. For obvious reasons, it is not a more serious crime because in that case they would have been in prison. Some examples: Three people were recently prosecuted for using a false document, one of them allegedly falsified high school grades in an application for a protected professional title to the National Board of Health and Welfare. One person is convicted of bribery and two of disobedience to law enforcement. Three people have been convicted of money laundering offenses in cases involving fraudulent schemes against the elderly with bank IDs. There are indications that these cases are linked to organized crime.

There is no general legal requirement that the person who works as a vote receiver must be unpunished. It is the municipality's election board that appoints vote recipients and decides which principles shall apply during recruitment.

In Stockholm, nearly 6,000 people worked on this year's election. A vote recipient receives a fee of SEK 3,600.

In a service statement from the electoral board's office, it appears that the city of Stockholm saw challenges ahead of this year's elections. A "relatively large number" of vote recipients from previous elections will not return.

After this year's election, a high-profile criminal investigation into suspected electoral fraud in Borlänge is underway. In Stockholm, too, the city has reported to the police information about suspected election fraud in connection with a personal election campaign in Järva.

DN has no evidence that any of the people who appear in the review of vote recipients have tried to influence the voting, the vote count or the election results. The review concerns which persons have been entrusted with the task of vote receiver and how the City of Stockholm controls those who are recruited.

Eva Debels, head of the electoral board's office in the city of Stockholm, says that the city does not have the opportunity to check vote recipients against any criminal record, nor does it have support for demanding extracts from the criminal record.

- It is clear that it is not good that there have been people who are connected to gang crime.

At the same time, she emphasizes that vote receivers never work alone and that the office has not received any indications of problems with those who work in the polling stations.

Eva Debels says that a voluntary extract from the employment register could be discussed, but points to the risk that it makes recruitment more difficult.

- Now the election has been completed and in the future we can discuss how we will work with the recruitment of vote recipients. Do we need better procedures? Can we reinforce them in some other way?

DN has not been able to reach the four vote recipients who are linked to organized crime.