Risks of vote tampering during the Aug 7 referendum are minimal, the Election Commission claims, as it keeps freshly-printed polling cards under close watch ahead of the big day.
Commission member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn vowed the referendum process will be fair to voters, thanks to the EC's security-related efforts.
Polling cards to be used on Aug 7 were printed by Chan Wanich Security Printing Co, one of the few firms in Thailand which has expertise in printing sensitive documents, including banking cheques, Mr Somchai said.
The polling cards to be used on Aug 7 have up to five layers of security, which EC officials can use to verify their authenticity.
Only three of these steps can be revealed to the public, he added.
The printing process uses two different colours for verification purposes.
Additionally, real cards have text printed in micro-letters -- which can only be seen through a microscope -- as well as special ink, detectable only with ultra-violet light.
The EC has printed a total of 54.6 million cards, which is 8% more than the registered number of voters, Mr Somchai said.
According to him, cards are counted after each step in the printing process and before being sent to each province, while EC staff have been sent to watch the printing house day and night.
Two police cars will accompany each truck that departs from the printing company to deliver polling cards nationwide.
"Other countries may not employ such strict security measures for their ballots, but we will," said Mr Somchai, adding the EC wants to assure the public it can trust the referendum process.
