If my vote in Singapore is secret, why does my ballot paper have a serial number?

By May 3, 2025, Singaporeans will have to head to the polls to vote in the 14th general election since the country’s independence.

And as we inch closer to the election, the excitement will undoubtedly trigger misconceptions about the electoral process.

One of the more common myths: your vote is not secret because the government traces it through the serial number on your ballot paper.

What is the serial number for?

The serial number on each ballot paper serves a critical role in ensuring the integrity of the voting process. It facilitates the accounting of all ballot papers issued and cast, thereby preventing counterfeiting and voter impersonation.

How does this work?

A tale of two serial numbers

Every voter will have a voter serial number (which is the number assigned to a voter in the relevant Register of Electors).

At the polling station, the practice of calling out voter serial numbers and the voter’s name when one goes to cast their vote is to allow voters to acknowledge that the Presiding Officer has issued the ballot paper to the right voter.

This also facilitates polling agents, who are representing their candidates, to validate that the voter is indeed listed in the registers of electors. This makes the proceedings more transparent.

This serial number is written on the ballot paper counterfoil when the ballot paper is issued to a voter at the polling station. It is important to note that the voter serial number is not written on the ballot paper itself (where you have indicated your choice of candidate) but on the counterfoil.

Hence there is nothing on the ballot paper where you marked your choice to directly identify you.

The voter serial number, together with the ballot paper serial number (see picture above) will allow the authorities to check that only eligible voters have voted if there is an order from the Court arising from an election petition.

Upon receiving a petition, the Court must be satisfied that votes may have been fraudulently cast, thus, affecting the result of the election, before issuing the order. The purpose is to determine if there is voting fraud, and not to check on voters’ choices.

A process meant to protect the integrity of your vote

If you’re still not convinced as to the secrecy of your vote, it might be worth reviewing the procedures and protocols involved in voting. This includes a rigorous chain of custody that is not broken from the moment you cast your vote at a polling station till it is counted, then secured at the Supreme Court and finally destroyed 6 months later.

We will expand on that with a quick summary of the relevant processes:

The inspection of ballot boxes

Before the start of polling, candidates and polling agents who are present at the polling stations are shown the empty ballot boxes and their covers. The empty ballot boxes are then sealed with tamper-proof seals in their presence, which ensures that ballot papers cannot be taken out once dropped into the box.

The candidates and their agents are allowed to observe the polling proceedings throughout the day, to assure themselves that procedures and protocols are followed.

When polling ends, the slits through which the marked ballot papers are inserted into the ballot boxes are sealed. Candidates and their polling agents can then affix their own seals or sign on the ballot boxes so that they are sure that the boxes are not tampered with before the votes are counted.

They will also be able to observe the transportation of the sealed ballot boxes from the polling stations to the counting centres.

The counting of votes

Once the ballot boxes are at the counting centres, candidates and counting agents will have the opportunity to inspect the boxes before they are opened for counting.

During the counting process, the election officials take precautions to avoid revealing the serial numbers printed on the back of the ballot papers to observers.

Once the election result has been declared, the ballot papers are sealed into boxes under the observation of candidates and counting agents (who may place their own seals on the boxes), before they are conveyed to the Supreme Court under Police escort and sealed in the vault in the Supreme Court.

6 months later, the ballot papers are destroyed.

On this day, the Election Department arranges for the boxes containing the ballot papers to be transported to an incinerator plant to be incinerated. Candidates and their representatives are invited to witness the process from when the vault is opened, the boxes transported and finally incinerated. They are allowed to inspect the seals to make sure that the boxes have not been tampered with until they are incinerated.

So from the point the ballot paper is placed in the ballot box till its destruction six months later, the processes are in place to make sure no one is able to trace who is the person who marked that ballot paper. Any time election officials handle the marked ballot papers, it is in the presence of candidates or their representatives. Otherwise they are secured with seals. This means that when all is said and done, only you will know who you voted for.

This Elections Department-supported article also serves as a reminder to the writer and all to vote responsibly.