Thai candidate says voters told to photograph their votes

A Thai political candidate says other candidates are buying voters and asking them to take camera phone photos of their ballots to prove they voted correctly, according to an article in MCOT 1.

The article says, "Mr. Aree Pholrattanasit said that the high-tech method of vote buying had already been piloted during advance election held during the last weekend in the province's Thung Yai district, where young people used the photographic evidence of their ballot choice to receive money from the candidates purchasing their votes.

"Although naming no names, Mr, Aree alleged that the candidate opposing him was involved."

Camera phones and election fraud

This isn't the first instance of using camera phone to document votes.  Last summer I wrote about Hong Kong residents complaining that government officials in Mainland China was asking residents to convince relatives to vote for pro-Beijing candidates and takes photos of their ballot with camera phones.

On February 27, 2004 I wrote about the Korea Election Commission asking voters to use cellular phones to take photos or send SMS to the Commission documenting any potential election abuses.  The Commission even posted a video on its Web site (that I wasn't able to find) illustrating how a camera phone could be used to document election abuses, as I previously wrote.