Voters will receive a special identity card that will guarantee their right to vote on election day, Sunday, November 8, the Union Election Commission has announced. The new measure will apply to all 32 million perspective voters. The new cards, which are separate from the existing National Registration Cards, will be distributed a week or so before the poll, the UEC said. “On election day, voters must bring their cards to the voting booth, where electoral officials will check the cards against the voters register and give them a ballot paper,” UEC official U Thaung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw on August 4. “Minor errors like spelling mistakes are acceptable,” he added.
U Thaung Hlaing said the cards would be useful beyond this year’s election. “This measure is meant to make our voters lists more accurate, and so improve the basis for future elections,” he said.
While the card is still being designed, U Thaung Hlaing said it would include the kind of basic information contained in voters lists. “The voter’s name, the NRC number, a serial number, and the name or address of the voting booth will be printed on the paper cards,” he said.
This data is generated by the UEC from the initial display of voters lists since last November. Provisional lists have been displayed throughout the country for review by voters, who are invited to point out errors and omissions for correction.
Full Article: Voters to get identity cards.
