Pritam Singh & Nicole Seah Witness Burning Of Sealed Ballot Boxes On 16 Jan
The 2020 General Election or GE2020 felt like ages ago, now that new and old Members of Parliament (MPs) have become familiar faces.
However, remnants of the occasion are still around, particularly our votes kept in sealed ballot boxes.
After 6 months without a legal challenge to the election results, the boxes were finally sent for incineration today (16 Jan).
Party reps witness incineration of sealed ballot boxes
The Workers’ Party (WP) provided an insight into the process via a Facebook post today (16 Jan).
On behalf of the WP team, Nicole Seah and Secretary-General Pritam Singh witnessed the incineration process with other party representatives in Tuas.
They took the opportunity to explain the secrecy of the voting process, culminating in this final stage of burning ballot boxes.
Safeguards in place to protect ballots
First addressing the serial numbers on our ballots, they clarified that these merely ensure that people vote only once, and nobody uses someone else’s NRIC.
At the counting stage, volunteers from all contending parties are present to ensure fairness and accuracy.
The ballots then promptly go into boxes sealed with tamper-proof seals, which party reps sign for verification.
The boxes stay sealed in the secure Supreme Court vault for 6 months, in case anyone raises a legal challenge against the GE results.
No way to trace ballots back to voters
Due to the thorough process above, WP emphasises that our votes are strictly confidential.
They even point out a historical track record to prove this, stating that,
Till this day, there have been no reports of a ballot being traced back to a voter.
Taking this as a point to encourage people to vote wisely, WP assures that there’s no harm in expressing one’s views on the ballot.
Be part of the election process
Rounding off by mentioning the importance of volunteers in the election process, WP invites keen individuals to join as polling or counting agents.
Of course, that won’t happen till 4 or 5 years from now, but keep that in mind if you’d like to be close to the action.
In the meantime, we hope that our leaders will continue to serve the people justly and help look out for our welfare.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
