Singapore Elections Department apologises after almost 10,000 Tanjong Pagar voters sent two poll cards due to printer’s error

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — The Elections Department (ELD) has apologised after almost 10,000 voters in Tanjong Pagar received two poll cards — most of them with different serial numbers — due to an error by a printing company.

In a statement today, ELD said that the printer, Toppan, had erroneously mailed out test prints of poll cards together with the correct poll cards.

ELD said it had “received feedback from some voters of Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) that they received two poll cards with different voter’s serial numbers”.

The agency added that the error had affected a total of 4,803 households — comprising 9,822 voters — from Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Of the 9,822 voters, 9,354 received two poll cards with differing voter’s serial numbers. The remaining 486 voters received two poll cards with identical information, the agency added.

Toppan is a Japanese global printing company headquartered in Tokyo. The company has multiple offices in Singapore, providing services like IT solutions and producing printed documents for official Government publication.

“The affected voters are assigned to vote at St Margaret’s School, Tanglin Community Centre, Farrer Park Primary School and Delta Sports Hall polling stations within Tanjong Pagar GRC,” ELD added.

ELD said that it is in the process of reaching out to affected voters to inform them of their correct serial numbers, adding that voters can obtain the correct details from their ePoll card on Singpass, which is accurate and unaffected by the printing error.

“We apologise for the confusion caused to affected voters,” the agency said.

It added that processes are in place to ensure that voters with two poll cards will only be able to vote once at the correct polling station as voters will also need to produce their NRIC, which will be verified against the polling station register at the polling station.

Those affected can dispose of the erroneous or duplicate poll card.

Affected voters can also call 1800-CALL-ELD (1800-225-5353) for assistance, the agency said.

Singaporeans are set to head to the polls on Sept 1 to vote for the country’s ninth president.

The presidential candidates are former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song, former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former NTUC Income chief executive Tan Kin Lian. — TODAY