A ballot distributed by partisans on Elections Day (Yahoo News)

By Nadine Ghaith

Despite repeated efforts by the Boutros Commission and several civil society organizations to have Lebanon adopt an official pre-printed ballot, Lebanon still remains one of the few countries in the world to conduct elections with no official ballot. This goes against international electoral norms and encourages foul play. The lack of official ballots disrespects the privacy of the voters and makes independent voting more difficult. As an example, parties and electoral slates can vary the ballots they give to different families or groups of voters. Within the same district the same list of names can be represented in different ways, and codes can be little details that go unnoticed such as having some of the names italicized or in bold, or the names written in a different spelling or order. The government overlooks minor variations in the spelling of candidates’ names as long as the voter’s intent is clear.
According to Nadine Farghal, the coordinator and legal consultant of CCER (Civil Campaign for Electoral Reform), when the votes are being counted the representatives of the parties are allowed to look at the ballots “under verification purposes”, and are able to note how many ballots are cast with each unique type (according to their coding system).
Arguments against the official ballots have been voiced by different political groups, such as simplifying the voting process for citizens, including those who are blind, illiterate, or semi-literate. Those arguments, however, are easily overcome by ballots that include features such as the pictures of candidates and symbols of parties, ballots produced in Braille, or other features to help citizens cast their vote in an independent, secret, and fair way.