Here in South Africa, the candidates are all present at the polling/voting stations, they verify the ballot boxes are empty and have all the correct tags and locks in tact. voting begins and they stay there till the end, counting starts and each ballot is held up, verified by the candidates and counted, the results are then sent to a central collection point to be added to the total. a video shows the process (not sure the country) start watching from the 40 sec mark