Original thread in CAL:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/sh....php?t=3200566
http://geraldgiam.sg/2010/09/your-vote-is-secret/
Your vote is secret
By Gerald Giam
16 September 2010
Many Singaporeans harbour the misconception that their vote during
elections is not secret. I’ve talked to many people, both educated
and less educated, and the overwhelming majority seem to think this
way. This is despite the fact that at every election, the Elections
Department takes pains to communicate to voters two main points:
Voting is compulsory, and voting is secret. I guess this is a point
that Singaporeans just refuse to believe our government
about.
It is even more unfortunate that some persist in perpetuating this
urban myth, which only serves to strike more fear into the hearts
of Singaporeans who are thinking of voting for the opposition. A
letter in Temasek Review today exhorted Singaporeans to spoil their
votes because, the writer reasoned, then the PAP won’t “mark” you
for voting against them and if there are enough invalid votes, it
will indirectly increase the opposition’s share of the valid
vote.
This is wrong on many counts. I’ll highlight just two: Firstly, the
PAP does not know which party you voted for, so they won’t know who
to “mark”, even if they wanted to. Secondly, invalid votes do not
factor in the final count, which is based on valid votes. This
means that if there were 10 votes–six for the PAP, three for the
opposition and one spoiled–the final tally is 66.6 per cent to the
PAP (six divided by nine, with the spoiled vote excluded), not 60
per cent.
Let’s be very clear: YOUR VOTE IS SECRET. I will take you through
the whole balloting process to see why:
1. On Polling Day, each voter at the polling station is issued a
ballot paper without his name on it. (I’ll talk about the serial
numbers later.) He/she marks the ballot paper in a booth out of
sight of anyone else. No cameras are permitted in the polling
station so there is no way to observe how voters vote. The voter
then folds up the paper and drops it in the ballot box. Throughout
the day, counting agents from each party are at the polling station
to ensure the ballot boxes are not opened.
2. At the close of polling, usually at 8pm on the same day, the
ballot boxes are sealed with tamper-proof seals (which are signed
over by the candidates) and transported to the Counting
Centre.
3. At the Counting Centre, the ballot boxes from the polling
stations are unsealed in the presence of the candidates and their
assistants and emptied in a common heap. The election officials
(who are civil servants) then count the votes in full view of the
candidates from all contesting parties, who ensure that the votes
are counted properly and the election officials follow all the
rules.
4. Immediately after counting, the votes, together with all the
relevant records, the stubs of the ballot papers and any unused
ballot papers are sealed in the boxes (again with tamper-proof
seals) and transported to the Supreme Court vault for
storage.
5. Six months later, if there are no disputes over the outcome of
the election, the sealed boxes are transported to the incineration
plant, where, in the presence of all the candidates (including the
losers), the votes and records are completely destroyed by
fire.
As you can see from above, at no point are the boxes opened without
the candidates or representatives from all the contesting parties
being present.
Frequently asked questions
Q. What about the serial numbers
on the ballot papers?
This is a safeguard against election fraud such as bringing
counterfeit ballot papers into the polling station, voter
impersonation or casting ballot papers which have been marked by
others. Many other countries, including the UK, have numbered
ballot papers. As explained above, there is no opportunity for the
election officials or candidates to peek at the votes and match
them against the electoral roll. Remember there are no names on the
voting slips, and if one wanted to match the serial numbers, one
would have to sift through a huge list of thousands of voters in
full view of the candidates.
It is possible, though, that in the event of a disputed outcome,
the courts could order that the boxes be taken out of storage and
the votes recounted. However this would again be done in full view
of the candidates. In any case, there has been no court order
issued to retrieve votes since Singapore first conducted elections
in 1948.
Q. Why does the election
official call out my name and voter number at the polling station
before giving me the ballot paper?
So as to enable the representatives of contesting political parties
at the polling station to verify and cross out your name on their
copies of the electoral register. They will know you voted, but
won’t know who you voted for.
Q. After elections,
some politicians say certain blocks supported the ruling party or
opposition. Does it mean they know my vote?
Nobody knows how each individual voted. Each polling station serves
about 10 to 20 blocks of flats or a few landed housing estates.
They may know the aggregated number from each polling district, but
not the individual votes.
