The Election Commission (EC) has tried to allay public concerns about the security of advanced voting ballots, saying the media and members of political parties will be allowed to observe the papers at Thailand Post's headquarters and police stations where they are being kept.
"If this system still doesn't inspire trust, we will invite the media to observe overnight," said Nat Laosisawakul, deputy secretary-general of the EC.
After polling stations closed Sunday at 5pm, ballots were sealed in boxes signed by EC officials and delivered to Thailand Post's headquarters on Chang Watthana Road, where they will be divided up according to constituencies they belong to, he said.
All ballots were expected to arrive at Thailand Post's headquarters in Bangkok by this evening.
"This practice has been done in the past for advanced voting," said Mr Nat.
Sending ballot cards to Bangkok could ward off possible problems at polling stations if they were allowed to segregate the ballots themselves, he noted.
After the ballots are segregated, they will be delivered to police stations in constituencies at least two days ahead of the election on Sunday.
Finally, these advance ballots will be delivered to polling stations where they will be counted along with the ballots cast on Sunday, Mr Nat said.
The EC, he said, has faced numerous questions about the security of advanced voting. "I have had to give an explanation about this at least 15 times today," the EC secretary-general lamented.
He reiterated that the EC has all monitoring systems in place.
"When the advance voting is wrapped up, GPS systems and CCTV cameras will be turned on inside the vehicles carrying the ballots to the central post office in Laksi district and the vehicles will be escorted by police cars," said Mr Nat.
At the post office, a committee consisting of representatives from the EC, the post office and political parties will supervise the process of segregating the ballots, which will also be filmed, the EC deputy secretary-general said.
The segregated ballots will then be sent to police stations in 350 constituencies via vehicles fitted with GPS system and surveillance cameras and accompanied by police vehicles, he noted.
The media, he said, will be invited to monitor the storage and segregation of the ballots at the post office this afternoon.
He said he would arrange bedding for members of the media and political parties to observe CCTV footage both at the post office and police stations through the night.
One of the organisations that voiced security concerns is We Watch, a pro-democracy NGO.
The organisation's representatives said they questioned the EC about how the advanced voting ballots would be kept, but the polling agency would say only that they would be stored in a safe place.
