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

The Electoral Commission (EC) has warned that persons who take photos of their ballot papers after voting can and will be arrested.

According to the Commission, such actions violate the principles governing the electoral process.

The Director of Electoral Services at the Commission, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, in an interview on Eyewitness News, said taking photos of the thumb printed ballot breaches the principle of secrecy of ballots.

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“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.

Security personnel, media persons among other early voters, cast their votes on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, in the special voting exercise but following that exercise, several images of people’s thumb-printed ballot papers have been making rounds on social media showing whom some early voters voted for.

This has generated some discussions about the appropriateness of such conduct, but the EC says the laws frown against such practice.