The Constitutional Court ruled on Monday that the use of barcodes and QR codes on ballot papers in the February 8 general election did not violate the Constitution or undermine voters’ right to a secret ballot.
The court said the petitioners had not provided sufficient evidence to establish that the Election Commission’s decision to put barcodes on ballot papers had destroyed or compromised the fundamental principles of free and secret voting.
The court ruled that the ballots could not be traced back to individual voters because they were securely stored and inaccessible to unauthorised persons.
It also ruled that the use of barcodes on party-list ballot papers did not violate the rights and freedoms of the petitioners or eligible voters under the Constitution.
However, the court said the case had affected public confidence in the election process and urged the Election Commission (EC) to take greater care in designing and managing ballot papers in future elections.
The court said the EC should consider measures to prevent ballot counterfeiting and election fraud without using marks or symbols on ballot papers that could potentially link voters’ identities to their voting choices.
It also said ballot papers and related election materials should be stored under strict security measures to prevent unauthorised access to voters’ information and voting records.
The ruling concerned the EC’s use of barcodes on party-list ballots and QR codes on constituency ballots in the February 8 election.
The case was referred to the Constitutional Court by the Ombudsman after it received 22 complaints alleging that the codes could potentially allow voters and their choices to be identified, undermining the secrecy of the ballot.
The Constitutional Court accepted the case for consideration and examined evidence, including election materials and procedures for handling ballots and ballot stubs.
The EC had argued that the codes were security measures intended to prevent ballot forgery and election fraud. It said that identifying a voter would require access to ballot stubs, which are stored separately from the ballots.
The February election was held with nearly 38 million people casting ballots.
The case attracted considerable attention because a ruling that the ballot system was unconstitutional could potentially have affected the validity of the election.
