Vote Counting Disrupted: Storm Destroys Election Tent, Crushes Vehicle

A severe storm struck Chachoengsao around 5:00 PM on February 8, 2024, immediately after polling closed for parliamentary and referendum voting. The storm hit Election Unit 8 in District 1, located at Village Head Montri's house in Khlong Udom Chonlachon Subdistrict, causing significant disruption to vote counting. When election committee members were preparing to start counting votes, heavy rain and strong winds began battering the election tent. Officials quickly moved ballot boxes, voting cards, documents, and equipment inside a house for safety, with local security personnel closely monitoring the area. Shortly after, the election tent collapsed onto an Isuzu pickup truck belonging to the election committee (registration number 9383 Bangkok), damaging candidate signs, vote counting boards, and some documents. The wind also damaged nearby house roofs, with some roof tiles breaking and flying off. Kachaporn Dejchinda, 29, an election committee member, reported that the incident happened rapidly, forcing an immediate halt to vote counting. While most documents were wet, the three ballot boxes remained undamaged. Kataworn Suwasri, the head of Election Unit 8, stated that they have reported the incident to the provincial Election Commission and are awaiting instructions on whether to count votes at the original location or move to a new site, given concerns about potential continued rainfall.