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A tale of two departments

And what departments would they be but elections departments?

You will know already that the recent Thai election has been nulled and they have to call a new one. And who is in trouble for it? The Election Commission (EC). From what I gather, the judges declared the election unconstitutional because of: (a) too short notice (i.e. from the time when the election was called to polling day) (b) lack of secrecy in voting (poll booth design problem). People are also calling for the EC to resign.

Then, of course, there's our Elections Department...

Interestingly, the WP manifesto calls for an independent election commission reporting to the President or Chief Justice. I wonder how this will work out, if it's ever implemented. Will it run into trouble, too, like the Thai EC did (from the looks of it, the Thai EC is independent)?

Actually, I'm very curious about our department's system of form dispensing and collecting. I'm NOT out to blacken their (nor anyone else's) name or anything. I'm just curious about the following:
1. How do they record who has collected what forms? E.g. do they record your name and IC number against each form you take in some kind of data system? Are the forms serialised or barcoded to facilitate recording?
2. How do they record who has submitted what forms? E.g. do they record your name and IC against each form you submit in their data system? Do they issue you an acknowledgment receipt of sorts for each form you submit? You know, like when you register your kid for P1, you submit various documents and the teacher on duty checks if you have submitted the necessary stuff and gives you an acknowledgment slip.

Say I turned up there and asked for my minority cert, how would they know that I never even collected or submitted the relevant form? Are they going to rely on the CCTV? (Thought it's for security purposes) What if the CCTV breaks down? I remember a letter in TODAY which said that someone in the department could have lost their job because of what happened. So they had better not rely on the CCTV. And the CCTV better not break down anyway.

Once again, I have NO intention to malign anyone or any department in this or any country. Just asking questions because I don't know the answers.

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