Empty ballot boxes for PE 2011 found in school storeroom

TR Emeritus (TRE) has received a series of photos purportedly of empty ballot boxes from a concerned anonymous reader.

According to the reader, he found about five of these boxes in a school storeroom. He took pictures of the boxes with a newspaper dated 22 August 2013, to show that these boxes were still around as of last week.

He said that the boxes have been moved around within the room many times, although it is not known who moved them. He added that he has seen the boxes since last year.

He confirmed that the boxes are unsealed and empty.
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The boxes appear to be ballot boxes from the Presidential Election in 2011 (PE2011). They appear to have come from the Electoral Division of Bishan-Toa Payoh and from 2 polling stations: Guangyang Secondary School and HDB Block 113 Void Deck (from the stickers on the boxes).

A quick online check confirms that these 2 were indeed polling stations for PE2011[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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TRE checked with a couple of counting and election agents about what might have happened here and this is what TRE has gathered.

At the close of polling, the ballot boxes are sent to the designated counting centre. After the ballot boxes from the polling stations arrive at the counting centre, the officials will arrange the boxes in rows according to the polling stations assigned to the counting centre.

Candidates and their counting agents who are present will be invited to check the boxes to ensure that the seals are intact and that they have not been tampered with, before counting begins.

After the ballot boxes are opened, the ballot papers are poured onto the counting table and mixed up ahead of counting.

After all the ballot papers are sorted and counted, they are packed into bundles of one hundred each. When counting is completed and the results have been announced, the ballot papers and election materials are then packed into different boxes labelled “Depository Box”. The candidates or their agents are then invited to affix their seals on these depository boxes.

At the end, it is these depository boxes with the counted ballot papers which are stored in the Supreme Court for 6 months before they are destroyed. In the case of PE2011, all the sealed depository boxes containing ballot papers were destroyed on 10 March last year. They were destroyed at the Tuas South Incineration Plant [Link].

So, what about the ballot boxes themselves which are transported from polling stations to counting centres to be opened and emptied of their contents? This is where things get a bit murky. The election agents whom TRE spoke to think that it must be the responsibility of the officials at the counting centres to properly dispose of the empty ballot boxes so as not to create panic or confusion if they are found by members of the public.

Noted human rights lawyer M Ravi, whom TRE spoke to, opined that even though Section 49(9) of the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA) outlines the procedure to be complied with at every counting station after the Returning Officer has made his official declaration, there is no mention made regarding the destruction of the ballot containers themselves.

As such, M Ravi said: “These pictures, in and of themselves, do not raise questions of a plausible breach of the rules of the Parliamentary Elections Act”.

In any case, TRE has written to the Elections Department for their comments.
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will there is be swapping of poll box before the arrival at the center?