Somchai Criticizes Election Commission for Expensive 'Extras' in Ballot Printing Terms of Reference

On February 17th, former Election Commission member Somchai Srisuthiyakorn posted on Facebook criticizing the ballot printing process for three different ballot types - pink (party list), green (constituency), and yellow (referendum) - which have different 'extras' added. The pink ballots include a barcode that allows anyone to easily identify the specific ballot and voter's choice by simply scanning it. The green ballots have a more secure QR code with limited decoding capabilities. Somchai argues that these 'extras' are expensive additions not specified in the original Terms of Reference (TOR), which only required six basic anti-fraud measures like special design patterns and hidden micro-text. He estimates the cost of these unnecessary additions at 7.8 billion baht, with a potential 4 billion baht for just the pink ballots if a new election were held. He criticizes the Election Commission for signing off on these extras without careful consideration.