Clarification on Security Measures for Ballot Papers Used in Local Elections, Affirming the Principle of Secret Voting

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Following information and comments circulated on social media concerning measures to prevent the counterfeiting or alteration of ballot papers in the elections for members of the Bangkok Metropolitan Council, the Bangkok Governor, members of the Pattaya City Council, and the Pattaya City Mayor, which are scheduled to be held on Sunday, 28 June 2026, the Office of the Election Commission wishes to provide the following clarification.

The Election of Members of Local Assemblies or Local Administrators Act, B.E. 2562 (2019), and its amendment provides in Section 10 paragraph two that, in an election, vote casting shall be carried out by direct suffrage and secret ballot. This is an essential principle of democratic elections. Section 37 of the said Act also provides that the Election Commission shall be responsible for the publication, the control of publication and the determination of methods of delivery of ballot papers, in accordance with the Regulation prescribed by the Election Commission. Section 77 further provides that ballot boxes and ballot papers shall be of the descriptions as prescribed by the Election Commission.

In this regard, Clause 134 of the Election Commission Regulation on the Election of Local Council Members or Local Administrators B.E. 2562 (2019), and its amendment, provides that the Election Commission, or a person assigned by it, shall supervise and control the printing and delivery of ballot papers, as well as prescribe measures to prevent counterfeiting or alteration and to safeguard the security of ballot papers. The printing house designated by the Election Commission shall print only a sufficient number of ballot papers corresponding to the number of eligible voters for the election of each local administrative organisation. In addition, Clause 133 provides that, before ballots are used in any election, a seal or mark in the form prescribed by the Director of Provincial Election shall be affixed to them.

The aforementioned measures to prevent counterfeiting or alteration of ballot papers constitute a mechanism to supervise the printing of ballot papers and to safeguard the security of ballot papers, which differ for each local and national election. Furthermore, before ballot papers for local elections are used, a seal will be affixed to the ballot papers at the perforated area in order to prevent ballot papers from being used in another local administrative organisation. Therefore, the specified measures cannot, by any means, be used to trace or link back to individual voters, and do not affect the principle of secret voting as required by law.

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