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Poll workers get creative to ensure safety, boost turnout
Despite the controversies, poll administrators across Indonesia – the world’s third-largest democracy – have delivered safe elections during the pandemic.
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Poll administrators in Banjarsari, Surakarta, Central Java, wear orange uniforms bearing the words “not Corruption Eradication Committee [KPK] prisoners” on Wednesday. The uniforms sought to commemorate International Anticorruption Day, which happened to fall on the same day as the simultaneous regional elections. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
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espite the controversies surrounding the simultaneous regional elections this year, poll administrators across Indonesia – the world’s third-largest democracy – have tried their best to offer effective, safe and trustworthy voting during the pandemic.
Many election committees unleashed their creativity to encourage citizens to cast ballots and to make polling stations safer for in-person voting.
The Sekoto village election committee in Kediri regency, East Java, offered prizes to people who cast their votes in the Kediri regental election on Wednesday.
Sekoto village polling committee (PPS) head Nita Susanti said she had raised funds within her committee for the initiative in an effort to encourage voting in the regency, which had seen low participation rates in previous elections.
“We managed to raise over Rp 7 million (US$496.4) from all 98 members of the Sekoto PPS to buy the prizes,” Nita told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday morning.
Read also: Polls run smoothly despite health fears
The PPS gave away 27 household items at each of the 14 polling stations in the village. The items included brooms, tudung saji (traditional hemispheric lids), trash cans, umbrellas and plastic cookie jars, she said.
