Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/821520
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 9 MAY 2017 News 8 After PN concerns, Electoral Commission says party delegates 'satisfied with security features' TIM DIACONO THE Electoral Commission announced yesterday even- ing that party delegates have expressed themselves "satis- fied" with the security fea- tures of voting documents. Both political parties are represented on the commis- sion. The commission's state- ment was issued following a press conference given by PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami, who claimed that the documents were missing "the most basic of security features". He was referring to the fact that the documents would not be laminated and that the ink used could be "wiped away" using methylated spir- its or scratched with finger- nails. Fenech Adami told the news conference that the voting documents would be distributed to households from today, and that they are not laminated and have been printed with ink that can easily be smeared or wiped off. He said that the Electoral Commission had informed the political parties a few weeks ago that its lamination machine was malfunction- ing and that it was search- ing for an alternative way to print voting documents. According to Fenech Ad- ami, the Commission lat- er said that it didn't have enough time to acquire a new lamination machine and would instead print voting documents on plastic sheets with security features to pre- vent abuse. However, he added, the Commission later warned the political parties that it had conducted tests on the voting documents, which confirmed that the ink on them could easily be wiped off with a mere dab of water. The PN said that it had formally written to it to use every possible measure to safeguard against voting document abuse. "People could end up with- out a vote if even a small number on their voting ID card gets wiped off by mis- take," Fenech Adami said. "As soon as people receive these documents at home, they will realize immedi- ately that there is something wrong with them." He pinned the blame on Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat for announcing a snap election on 3 June "to save his own skin". "Institutions in this coun- try are no longer function- ing, starting with the police force, the Attorney General and the MFSA, and now even the Electoral Commission," he said. The Electoral Commis- sion held an urgent meeting in the evening. In an official statement released to convey the outcome of the meeting, the commission said that the newly-introduced medium of the voting document has "three security features that satisfied both the Commis- sion and the party delegates". "The Electoral Commis- sion reassures the public that stricter verification of the voters' identity shall be un- dertaken during the poll," it said in a statement. It added that "every voter must take care to store this document in a safe place, such that on polling day, they can take it with them to vote at the polling centre indicat- ed on the document. No one would be able to vote with- out the voting document". The commission also warned that "any person who is in unlawful posses- sion of any voting document, or who fraudulently forges, counterfeits, defaces, or de- stroys a voting document shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on convic- tion to a fine or to impris- onment or to both such fine and imprisonment". The commission is com- posed of members nomi- nated by the two major political parties, with the chairman nominated by the government. The commission said that the newly-introduced medium of the voting document has "three security features that satisfied both the Commission and the party delegates" Republic Street, Valletta next to the Courts