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SINGAPORE: President Halimah Yacob ordered the opening of a sealed box from the July 2020 general elections, so that a document that was “accidentally sealed” inside can be recovered.
The document is a copy of the electoral roll of the electoral district PN23 of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.
In a press release on Monday (October 5), the Elections Department (ELD) said that an election official at the Elias Park Elementary School counting center had “inadvertently” placed the document in the ballot box containing the ballots. counted and other documents.
In response to inquiries from the CNA, ELD said it verified this after consulting with electoral district election official PN23 when the registration was not returned.
The urn is now sealed and kept in the vault of the Supreme Court.
The document in question, which is a list of eligible voters in that electoral division who cast their votes on July 10, is necessary to indicate the registered voters who did not vote that day.
DOCUMENT TO BE RECOVERED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 10, 2021
Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, sealed ballot boxes must be kept in safe custody for six months after elections and can only be opened during this period “for the purpose of initiating or maintaining a prosecution or a request to invalidate an election”.
According to ELD, Mdm Halimah has directed the Records Officer to retrieve the copy of the voter registration on or after January 10, 2021. ELD added that the record must be recovered before the ballot boxes are destroyed.
“The President has also directed that the copy of the voter registry … be destroyed by the Returns Officer no later than 30 days after the date of its retrieval,” ELD said.
Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, all sealed ballot boxes must be kept in a safe place before being destroyed at the end of six months after Election Day, January 10, 2021.
NAMES OF NON-VOTERS REMOVED FROM VOTER RECORDS
Eligible voters who do not vote are known as non-voters.
The late retrieval of the document in question means that the names of non-voters in the PN 23 constituency of Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC will only be released later, ELD said.
The names of all other non-voters in the 2020 General Election are now available for inspection at the Elections Department, designated community centers or clubs or Singapore overseas missions that serve as overseas registration centers, ELD said.
Singaporeans can also check their voter status on the ELD website or on the SingPass Mobile app.
Under Section 43 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, the names of non-voters have been removed from the voter registers, ELD said. They will not be able to vote or stand as candidates in future elections until their names are restored.
Non-voters in this year’s election or in previous elections can request to have their names restored in the voter registers if they wish to vote in future elections, ELD said.
He added that non-voters are encouraged to apply early as ELD will not be able to restore their names during the period from the date the Writ is issued for an election, until after Nomination Day if the election is not contested, or until after the vote. Day if a survey is to be conducted.
READ: GE2020: COVID-19 Patients, Quarantined Cannot Vote; special voting time for stay-at-home
However, for non-voters who were subjected to a COVID-19 quarantine order or a requirement not to leave their residences due to a stay-at-home order on July 10, they have the right to have their names restored to the registry of corresponding voters for free. .
“They do not need to ask for their names to be restored, as the registration officer will automatically restore them,” ELD said.
For non-voters who were issued a medical certificate and required not to leave their place of residence on July 10, their names will also be restored upon request without penalty.
