Less than half of the registered voters in Taunggyi District bothered to check to see if their names were correctly registered for the 2020 general election, the Shan State Election Commission reported.
During the first posting from July 25 to August 14, Than Zaw Oo, an Election Commission (EC) official told SHAN fewer than 300,000 of more than 700,000 registered in the district in southern Shan State confirmed that their information was correct.
Nang Seng, from Taunggyi city, told SHAN she wasn’t aware the government posted names from her ward. “I am not sure my name was on the list of registered voters.”
A resident of Taunggyi Township said everyone over seventeen should confirm their names. “We need to check to be sure our information is written correctly on the voter’s list. If our name is wrong, we can’t change it after the due date has passed.”
Union Minister of Immigration and Population Thein Swe said during the first posting it’s not uncommon for there to be mistakes.
Over 24,000 citizens, whose names were not included, requested they be added. More than 20,000 found that their names or ID numbers were incorrect. At the same time, an additional 8,000 requested that the names of the deceased be deleted.
In October, the month before the November 8 election, the EC will publish a second list for residents of Taunggyi, Nyaung Shwe, Kalaw, Lawksawk and Faikhun (Hpekong) townships in Taunggyi District.
During election day, Taunggyi District Police Commander Zaw Htay Oo said police will provide security at the 1,166 polling stations located in 10 townships in Taunggyi District. “At least one special officer will be watching every station,” he said.
According to EC, there will be 3,500 polling stations in Shan State. Over 3.5 million are registered to vote.
