Labor Ministry Advisor Clarifies Rules for Social Security Board Election
Voters in the Social Security Board election may jot down candidate numbers on their palms or paper as memory aids, but cannot bring campaign materials into polling stations, clarified a labor ministry advisor.
The labor ministry advisor has clarified that voters in the Social Security Board election may write candidate numbers on their palms or small pieces of paper as memory aids, but must not bring campaign materials into polling stations. The clarification came after confusion arose over whether such notes were permitted. The Social Security Office warned that materials resembling campaign literature could delay result announcements and require verification.
On September 24, Bunyakorn Damrong, advisor to the Labor Minister, issued a Facebook statement apologizing for the confusion caused by earlier communications about bringing campaign materials into Social Security Board voting units. She stressed that writing down candidate numbers as personal memory aids is different from bringing campaign literature into polling stations.
The advisor explained that the original intent was to ensure all voters could exercise their rights fully without risking violation of regulation 44, which prohibits bringing campaign documents or materials into voting areas. A Social Security Board Election Committee meeting on September 9 approved that there is no prohibition against voters privately writing down candidate numbers.
The advisor recommended that voters check the candidate list posted at their polling station before voting, or if using personal memory aids such as writing numbers on their palms or small papers, they must not display the numbers to others and must never bring folded papers or campaign documents into the voting unit. She emphasized that all voters should be able to exercise their rights with full confidence without worrying about breaking rules, and apologized again for the confusion.
