Glitch causes ballot boxes to be reopened
Jasmine Yin
[email protected]
BALLOT boxes from two polling districts in Aljunied Group
Representation Constituency (GRC) have to be re-opened, as the name
lists of people who voted in the May 6 General Election (GE) were
mistakenly sealed along with their counted ballot papers, the
Elections Department said in a press statement yesterday.
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President S R Nathan has directed an Order for Returning Officer
Tan Boon Huat to "retrieve only" the name lists of AJ24 and AJ25
polling district voters "for the purpose of preparing the lists of
electors in these two polling districts who failed to vote at the
General Election 2006".
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All eligible voters are required to cast their ballots in
Singapore.
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The lists of non-voters "cannot be prepared", the press statement
read, because the names of voters "were inadvertently placed
together with the counted papers and other documents by the staff
at the Xinghua Primary School counting centre in the ballot boxes
and sealed therein".
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According to the Jan 9 edition of the Government Gazette, AJ24
includes the area bound by Upper Serangoon Road and Hougang Avenue
3, while AJ25 includes the area bound by Hougang Avenue 1, Hougang
Avenue 3 and Tampines Road.
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Aljunied GRC was one of the hotspots in last month's GE. The
five-man People's Action Party (PAP) team led by Foreign Minister
George Yeo won 56.09 per cent of the vote against the Workers'
Party (WP) team.
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The Elections Department said this was not the first time that
ballot boxes which are kept in the vault of the Supreme Court for
six months after the polling day have had to be unsealed. Similar
instances have occurred in 1980 and 1997.
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When told about the unsealing of the ballot boxes, 28-year-old
unemployed Aljunied voter Mark Lim said he felt "uncomfortable",
citing the serial numbers that were printed on the ballot
papers.
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Non-Constituency Member of Parliament and WP chairman Sylvia Lim,
who led a team against the PAP in Aljunied, would only say: "I
would like to reserve comment until I find out more about
this."
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PAP Member of Parliament for Aljunied Zainul Abidin Rasheed said:
"To me, it sounds like a technical matter and I would leave it to
the Elections Department to resolve."
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The Elections Department said that the lists of non-voters in
polling districts AJ24 and AJ25 will be published for inspection on
or after Nov 6. The lists from other polling districts are now
available for inspection at the Elections Department and designated
community centres and clubs.
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Those who failed to vote at the last General Election can apply to
restore their name on the Registers of Electors with the Elections
Department.
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Visit www.elections.gov.sg for more information.
