Why destroy them.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 8:33 am
NEC defends printing of extra ballots for vote
Fri, 5 May 2017
Touch Sokha and Ananth Baliga
The National Election Committee yesterday defended its decision to print 1.5 million extra ballots for the upcoming commune elections, saying the chances of misuse were minimal given better identification systems – though the opposition and civil society remained unconvinced.
Following the NEC’s announcement that it would print 9.4 million ballots for 7.9 million voters last week, nine NGOs – led by election monitors Comfrel and Nicfec – released a statement on Tuesday questioning the need for the high number of extra ballots, saying it was an additional cost of $330,000 and ran the risk of being misused.
The NEC’s decision would mean printing 20 percent more ballots than are strictly necessary, with NGOs pointing out most countries, on average, only produce an extra 2 to 5 percent.
On Wednesday, however, the NEC released a statement saying the move was necessitated by the prospect of torn ballots, printing errors and voters making mistakes while voting.
“NGOs and political parties will be deployed to observe the election at each polling station . . .
so what can go wrong?” NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said, adding that polling officers will destroy the extra ballots an hour after voting is closed.
Why would the polling officers need to destroy the extra voting ballets that have not been used. Surely they would be needed as evidence to prove that they have not been used ?
Fri, 5 May 2017
Touch Sokha and Ananth Baliga
The National Election Committee yesterday defended its decision to print 1.5 million extra ballots for the upcoming commune elections, saying the chances of misuse were minimal given better identification systems – though the opposition and civil society remained unconvinced.
Following the NEC’s announcement that it would print 9.4 million ballots for 7.9 million voters last week, nine NGOs – led by election monitors Comfrel and Nicfec – released a statement on Tuesday questioning the need for the high number of extra ballots, saying it was an additional cost of $330,000 and ran the risk of being misused.
The NEC’s decision would mean printing 20 percent more ballots than are strictly necessary, with NGOs pointing out most countries, on average, only produce an extra 2 to 5 percent.
On Wednesday, however, the NEC released a statement saying the move was necessitated by the prospect of torn ballots, printing errors and voters making mistakes while voting.
“NGOs and political parties will be deployed to observe the election at each polling station . . .
so what can go wrong?” NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said, adding that polling officers will destroy the extra ballots an hour after voting is closed.
Why would the polling officers need to destroy the extra voting ballets that have not been used. Surely they would be needed as evidence to prove that they have not been used ?