Sun's spy camera undermines ballot secrecy

On election day, many voters raised concerns about the secrecy of the ballot. I myself created a stink in the polling room when I saw the polling officer writing my voter registration number on the counterfoil of the prenumbered serialised ballot papers. I told the officer that this violated my right to secrecy of the ballot. "What kind of undi rahsia is this?" I demanded to know. "This is not undi rahsia." She just shrugged her shoulders and muttered something about this being the Election Commission's requirement.

I also asked loudly (so that everyone in the room could hear) whether I had to vote with the 6B pencil provided. I said I wanted to use my pen. You could see people in the room getting flustered by this "troublemaker". One of the officers or agents said that the requirement was that the pencil be used. I asked him why and and told him that this was bizarre as pencil marks could always be erased. He could not provide a satisfactory answer. Why can't pens with indelible ink be provided? This is not a primary school objective test where you need a 2B pencil to mark your choice.

Anyway blog visitor Jo forwarded this scanned picture from theSun (page 14) of 22 Mar to us with the comments: "Who needs serial numbers when you've got cameras?"

A couple of questions arise: How did theSun photographer get access into the voting booths? How was the spy camera placed above the booths? And don't theSun and its photographer know that it is highly unethical to take pictures of voters making their choice in the privacy of the booths?