5 weeks ago on September 13th, Derek Aikman's group, called "BUFERHD" held a voter Simulation exercise, to try and establish that due to the numbering of ballots, your ballot is not secret. It made the news this week when the Teachers Union President endorsed the exercise as legitimate and illustrative of a serious problem. That has forced the Elections and Boundaries Office to send out a release. They say that ballot papers are numbered for reconciliation and accountability purposes so that Election Officials can ensure that all ballot papers counted in an election include only the legitimate ballot papers issued by the Presiding Officer. But the Elections and Boundaries office stresses that "no Presiding Officer or any election official is required to inform anyone of the ballot book series or the ballot paper number he/she issues at any given point during the election process."
They add that "It has never been the standard practice that ballot books number sequence is announced at the polling station; nor are ballots issued to voters in sequential order."
And so the statement concludes, "the process employed in the simulations conducted by BUFERHD is flawed and without merit."
Email
Print