You can be arrested for taking photos of your ballot paper – EC warns

The Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, has said one violates the principles governing the electoral process if an individual takes pictures of their ballot paper after voting.

According to him, an individual does not commit an offence by telling others the party he voted for but can be arrested, according to the law, for sharing photos of ballot papers as it breaches the secrecy of the ballot.

He said “If you finish and you tell people who you voted for, that is fine but it is an offence for you to take photos of it and be showing it to people. That breaches the secrecy of the ballot. In the view of the law you can be arrested,” he said.

Dr Serebour Quaicoe who was speaking on Eyewitness News after the Electoral Commission held special voting for Security personnel, journalist among others on Tuesday, December 1.

He registered his displeasure on how ballot papers made rounds on social media during the exercise.

A total of 109,557 out of voter population of 17,027,641 participated in the special voting by security personnel, media personnel and some workers of the Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday ahead of December 7 general elections.

The smooth exercise commenced at 7:00 am in almost all centres and ended at 5:00 pm.