Election ink
Election ink, election spot or phosphorus containing ink is typically applied either as a semi-permanent ink or as a dye on the forefinger of voters to prevent voter fraud in the form of multiple voting by a person in the current elections. This is an effective way for countries where personal documents are not always standardized or institutionalized.
Application
Election ink is a security measure to prevent multiple voting in political elections. The ink is usually plotted on the index finger of the left or right hand, especially on the cuticles, as it is difficult to remove from there. The application of the ink can be made depending on the circumstances, preference and priority in various ways. The most common methods are dipping the finger in a bottle with sponge pads, bottle with a brush attachment, spray bottle and permanent marker. In all of these methods prior to the first swabbing a dry time between 15 and 30 seconds and drying, a light should be noted to produce the desired shelf life.
Composition
Selectively ink typically contains a dye for easy and immediate recognition of silver nitrate, which ensures the visibility even in ultra-violet light. Thus, the ink leaves a nearly impossible to remove track that slowly disappears only by the waste of old and new growth outer skin cells. Industrial standard dial ink consists of 10%, 14 % or 18% of silver nitrate, depending on how long shelf-life is desired. This water-based ink selection still sometimes contains a solvent such as alcohol, to reduce the drying time, especially for dipping bottles, in which in addition also a biocide is for prevention of bacterial contamination.
Durability
Selectively ink remains on the skin usually between 72 and 96 hours and visible on the nail or the nail skin about 2 to 4 weeks. The choice of ink used in India marks the voters directly on the cuticle of the index finger to form a complete disappearance of the ink is not closed until the regrowth of the nail. This can take up to four months. A higher concentration of silver nitrate than 18 % in the ink has no influence on the duration of life, for even stronger silver nitrate solutions do not cause photosensitive reaction in living skin cells. The color can be to the extent still grow new cells. Silver nitrate is an irritant and a concentration of 25 % also harmful to health.
Colors
Election ink is traditionally purple before the photosensitive effects occur and leave a black or brown residue. In the parliamentary elections in Suriname in 2005 the color orange has replaced the purple because it was durable as long and was better received by the voters, as it represents the national colors. In some countries, women dye their fingers purple for cosmetic reasons, why a different color is used here to highlight the differences more clearly, and to avoid an unjustified election ban.
Instead of colored ink and ink choice is sometimes used, which is not visible to the naked eye, but only under ultraviolet light. This makes it difficult to remove them and to commit election fraud.
Efficiency
Permanent markers are the most effective choice for use ink. With 5 ml pins can be about 600 people mark, while one is in a size of 100 ml only about 1000 people may mark with the often preferred immersion vial. This preference is also related to the cult have become images of the elections in Iraq and Afghanistan early 21st Jhds. together, where countless voters their stained fingers held in the cameras. In ink dipped finger left a more striking and somewhat longer-lived (depending on the concentration of silver nitrate ) impression of a permanent marker. However, these are much less expensive to purchase and easy to carry, which considerably reduces the cost of the election administration, particularly when the shelf has to be ensured only to 3 to 5 days. Permanent markers also leave a much smaller residue, which makes the method more acceptable for many voters.
Debate
In the Afghan parliamentary elections in 2004 were allegations that there would ink used which is all too easily washable. The election officer had decided to leverage the permanent marker; it also normal markers were sent out to some polling stations, which has led to confusion and some voters leaving with less permanent marker.
Critics note that you simply can circumvent this security measure that you wrapped the fingers previously with a thin, transparent layer of adhesive. Thus, the ink would simply absorbed by the adhesive and the way for a second round of voting thus would be open.
In the parliamentary elections in Malaysia in 2008, the use of ink on the grounds the election officer attracted only a week before the elections back again, this would discourage people from voting, even if they had already voted once. In addition, cited the election office reports that ink had been smuggled to Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan, there to mark the people against their will and thus prevent their ballot.
During the presidential elections in Zimbabwe in 2008 reports came to light that showed that people who had not gone to the polls and thus had no purple fingers were beaten by paid by the government mobs.
Even in the presidential election in Afghanistan in 2009, there were acts of violence in connection with election ink. There were in the Kandahar region at least two people who had participated in the election, cut off by the Taliban fingers. They were easy to identify because of the election ink as voters.
In the Malaysian general election, 2013, in view of the first official use of electoral ink in the country, already numerous voters pointed out that the ink is easily washed under running water, despite assurances by the Election Commission of Malaysia, that this was not possible.
International Use
Some countries that have used proven choice ink:
- Egypt
- Afghanistan
- Algeria
- Bangladesh
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Gambia
- India
- Indonesia
- Iraq
- Japan
- Jordan
- Canada
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Kenya
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Malaysia
- Mauritania
- Mexico
- Mozambique
- Nicaragua
- East Timor
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Philippines
- Zimbabwe
- Sri Lanka
- South Africa
- Suriname
- Chad
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- USA
- Venezuela