IEBC annuls fears after voters spot 'REJECTED' stamp on ballot papers

The electoral body in Kenya IEBC has validated ballot papers stamped ‘REJECTED’ at the back saying rejected ballot papers can only be labeled as such when stamped on the top page.

Voters in Embakasi South Constituency in Nairobi County early on Tuesday were agitated after realizing that a clerk was issuing them with ballot papers bearing a stamp rendering them rejected at their blank back pages.

In Embakasi South Constituency, Nairobi. The ballot papers stamped rejected are not invalid. #WeweNdioKusema

— IEBC (@IEBCKenya) August 8, 2017

The voters quickly raised an alarm leading to a halt of the exercise as voters roughed up the elections official to the intervention of the police.

IEBC has announced that the officer who had stamped the ballots at the back as rejected had been fired.

Kenyans took pictures of the said ballot papers wrongfully stamped as rejected and circulated the pictures online alerting those who were yet to vote and called for vigilance that will ensure all their votes were tallied as well cast and valid.

Rejected ballots are stamped at the front. Not the back. The officer involved has been fired. #WeweNdioKusema— IEBC (@IEBCKenya) August 8, 2017