“Rigging” The Election ‑ Can It Be Done?
By Kelley Senanayake
Tampering with ballot boxes is no easy feat — but rigging is prevalent
The common opposition candidate, General Sarath Fonseka has categorically stated at several recent election rallies that he will ensure that the election on January 26 will not be rigged by the government. He said this as a response to other speakers at meetings, who mentioned that there is now talk among the public that the current trend (including postal vote and election surveys) shows that General Fonseka will win convincingly on the 26th, “People are saying that the government is spreading rumours that it will win, even by one vote.”
General Fonseka reiterated that he will personally take control of the election process on January 25th and 26th, and with the help of a large number of his loyal supporters from the military and the police, he will ensure that there will be no rigging and that it will be a free and fair election as provided for by the Presidential Elections Act No 15 of 1981.
Since the 1970s, this writer has been actively involved in parliamentary and presidential elections. This article examines how a presidential election can be “rigged.” “Rigging the poll” is a serious crime and the Presidential Elections Act provides penalties such as rigorous imprisonment for those committing election offences. In the past, these statutory provisions have been used to punish offenders.
Rigging is criminal because you are depriving the citizen of the most precious right he has, namely to vote out a government and vote in a government of his choice. Casting your vote is special because normally you have to place your name or signature in a document. When you vote, there is no name or signature; only a cross or tick or a sign and this is also done in secret. No one else need know.
In Western nations, rigging is unheard of. In Sri Lanka, however, it has happened. How does election rigging take place? There are several ways as outlined below.
How an election can be “rigged”…
1) The illegal/unlawful publicity and promotion by cut-outs, banners/posters etc.?
Answer
Yes, this is rigging. It can be done and on this occasion the government has succeeded. The Elections Commissioner has not been able to prevent it.
2) Use of state media for unlawful/illegal publicity and intense mud slinging of opposition candidate. Also assaulting / killing opposition supporters?
Answer
Yes, this also is rigging and on this occasion from nomination day, the state media — Rupavahini, ITN, SLBC and Lake House Press have been brazenly used to publicise the President and spread false reports about General Fonseka. The government has succeeded in rigging on this ground. They have killed a voter in Tangalle.
3) Election Day (January 26) rigging.
Prevent or chase out General Fonseka’s polling agents and then impersonate registered voters. Can this be done?
Answer
Not that easily at this election.
There will be 9900 polling booths islandwide on January 26. Each candidate is entitled two polling agents at each booth. These polling agents are people of the area and know the voters who come to that polling booth. They also know voters who have died/gone abroad whose names appear in the Election Register. If you prevent/drive away the polling agents, there can be impersonation – others pretending to be the voter.
In the infamous Wayamba Provincial Council election in the 1990s, the government chased away the opposition polling agents and rigged the election. This can be done and General Fonseka must take steps to prevent this. Meet force with force.
What was done by S.B. Dissanayake in the Wayamba PC elections in the mid 1990’s, can be repeated, but it is very unlikely that it could be duplicated to that extent due to the massive manpower that is necessary to do it on an island-wide scale. However, the opposition must be ready with counter-measurers to prevent this. What really happened in Wayamba included, among others, entering polling stations, tearing off ballots from the ballot books, placing the cross where necessary and stuffing the ballot boxes with their votes, thereby not only increasing the PA vote, but also making sure that the votes counted and the votes cast tallied at the end.
4) Asking selected voters to put a blank paper into the ballot box and returning with the real ballot papers which will then be marked and given to the next voter who will repeat this exercise?
Answer
This is not possible because there is a public official always standing near the ballot box, and he or she will notice if a blank paper and not the ballot paper is being inserted. Also, if there are several blank papers inside a ballot box at the counting, then objections can be taken to that entire box.
Asking a voter to put a blank paper into the ballot box and returning the real ballot to the UPFA organiser will not work as tallying of votes cast and votes counted will not happen, for empty papers will be found in the ballot boxes when the counting takes place.
5) Switching ballot boxes when being transported from the polling booth to the counting centre?
Answer
This is not possible because ballot boxes are sealed and the stamp or seal of each candidate is fixed to the official seal. So if the ballot box has been switched, it will be easily noticed and can be rejected.
Also, outsiders will not know the number of ballots in each box, without which no new box can be switched in its place.
Polling agents and regional organisers must be asked to be vigilant right throughout the election day, up to the time of the closing of the polls to see that the ballot boxes are securely transferred to the counting stations.
6) Fraud while vote counting by use of computers?
Answer
This is not possible. Computer fraud is minimal as eminent university professors and instructors will be employed by the Elections Department to do the final count of votes prior to announcing the results.
Each candidate is entitled to six counting agents, and these counting agents, if vigilant and intelligent, can prevent any fraud at time of counting.
Related posts:
- The Evolution Of Election Rigging By Raisa Wickrematunge In 1998, journalist Eduardo Galeano wrote, “The upside-down world rewards in reverse: it scorns honesty, punishes work, prizes lack of scruples… injustice,...
- Will This Election Give Us ‘Change We Can Believe In’? By Cassandra Mascarenhas and Raisa Wickrematunge With 22 candidates contesting the presidential elections this time around, the highest number ever in any election held so...
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