TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two Taiwanese citizens have been detained after destroying their ballots while another was arrested for trying to sneak his presidential vote out of a polling station.
According to Liberty Times, a middle-aged female voter in Tainan decided to tear her ballots into pieces after the election inspectors refused her request for a new presidential vote. She claimed that she had marked the wrong candidate and was upset that she could not receive a new ballot.
A similar incident also occurred in Miaoli County when local police detained a 56-year-old Taiwanese man after he had damaged all three of his ballots. Another voter was arrested at the scene after trying to carry her presidential vote out of a polling station and will be questioned, reported Yahoo News.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) urged Taiwanese voters to comply with election regulations and warned that defacing election ballots will not only result in a wasted votes but also a fine of between NT$5,000 (US$167) and NT$50,000. The agency added that any attempt to sneak ballots out is a violation of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, and violators could receive one-year sentences or be handed an NT$15,000 fine.