Police are hunting arsonists who set fire to lists of eligible voters for the Aug 7 referendum in Khon Kaen and Satun on Wednesday night.
Phanthep Saokosol, district chief of Chum Phae in Khon Kaen, said Thursday that a list of eligible voters for the referendum was ripped from a notice board and set alight at a venue designated as a polling station for the referendum on Wednesday night.
The venue is a town hall at Chumchon Mai Samakkhi community in Chum Phae municipality.
Four pages of the voter list, along with the announcement declaring the venue as a polling station, were burned, Mr Phanthep said.
People living opposite the venue said the voter list appeared intact on the notice board on Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, he said.
The district chief said he had asked the Election Commission's provincial office to send officials to work with police to catch the culprits.
In Satun on Thursday, provincial governor Phattaraphon Rattanapichetchai said a list of eligible voters for the Aug 7 referendum was torn up and burned in Ban Jelibang in Muang district on Wednesday night.
Police are looking for those responsible and want to determine whether the vandalism was politically motivated, he said.
The governor also said he instructed village heads and kamnans to step up security at other polling stations in the southern province to prevent a repeat of the incident.
Police in Kamphaeng Phet were recently criticised over an episode involving two 8-year-old girls tearing up voter lists.
