Thailand’s First Triple-Ballot Day: Voters Push for Single ID Scan

Thai voters are weeks away from casting three different ballots in a single outing—a first in the kingdom’s modern history—and the way those ballots are handed out has turned into a flash-point for election officials, legal scholars and everyday citizens alike.

Snapshot: What matters now

• 3 ballots will be issued on 8 Feb: constituency MP, party-list MP and a referendum on writing a new charter.

• Over 1.5 M Thai citizens have already signed up for advance voting; that window closes tonight.

• Former election overseers and civic groups want the process trimmed to one ID check instead of two.

• The Election Commission (EC) hints it has the legal room to simplify the queue but still cites referendum-specific rules as a hurdle.

• No early or postal option exists for the referendum, raising access questions for migrant workers and Thais abroad.

One day, three choices

On 8 February, polling stations will open from 08:00 to 17:00 in what officials are billing as the most logistically complex vote since Thailand adopted its current electoral system. Inside the khu-haa—the cloth-covered booth familiar to every voter—citizens must decide on their local MP, their preferred party and whether the country should draft a brand-new constitution. Similar "super ballots" have boosted turnout in places such as Nauru and Switzerland, yet they have also lengthened queues when procedures are not crystal clear.

Push for a shorter queue

Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a former commissioner who once supervised nationwide ballots, ignited the latest debate with a pointed Facebook post: why ask people to verify their identity twice when a single scan of a national ID card could suffice? He argues that "double handling" will annoy voters, invite criticism and perhaps depress turnout in heat-prone provinces. Several civil-society networks supporting elderly and disabled voters echoed his call, noting that the present plan requires them to walk back to the registration desk after depositing the two MP ballots.

What the Election Commission says

The EC insists it is "administratively ready" to deliver 3 separate paper slips at one go, and internal guidelines leaked last week suggest the body is warming to Somchai’s suggestion. Still, commissioners point to the Referendum Act 2021, which mandates an unambiguous chain of custody for each referendum ballot. That legal nuance, they say, is why the referendum cannot be folded into early or postal voting, despite fervent lobbying from expat groups in London, Osaka and Doha. An EC source told the Bangkok Post that "a final procedural tweak" could still be announced before mid-January if it doesn’t clash with the act.

Legal leeway and limits

Election-law specialists underline that Section 22 of the EC’s organic law gives commissioners wide discretion to draft or amend regulations "necessary for a free and fair vote." In practice, that means they can instruct poll workers to perform one ID check, hand over all three ballots simultaneously and keep separate drop boxes for transparency. What they cannot do without parliamentary approval is redesign the referendum into a non-secret format or outsource it to mail. Critics warn that leaving such significant choices to regulation rather than statute invites future lawsuits—yet every previous multi-ballot election since 2011 has survived court challenges.

Lessons from overseas

Countries that bundle elections with referendums typically chase two benefits: lower costs and higher turnout. The Pacific micro-state of Nauru saved roughly 18% of its poll budget in 2025 by issuing dual ballots, while Ecuador’s 2025 security referendum enjoyed a 72% participation rate by riding on municipal election day. But analysts caution that combining ballots can also muddle messages; Switzerland spends millions each year on voter education precisely to avoid "ballot fatigue." Thailand’s EC says it will roll out animated explainers on Line, TikTok and community radio in late January to help citizens differentiate the three slips.

What Thai voters should prepare

Bangkok’s Metropolitan Administration has earmarked 400 extra tents as shade at large precincts, and provincial offices are revising signage so that the green constituency ballot, pink party-list ballot and blue referendum ballot are colour-coded at every step. Voters may use expired national IDs, a jab khai khan (temporary slip) or the new ThaID app to prove identity. Those registered for advance voting will do so on 1 Feb, but they will still need to show up again on 8 Feb if they wish to weigh in on the charter question.

The road ahead

Whether the EC officially merges the two ID checks or maintains a split protocol, Thailand is already committed to a day that will test its electoral machinery—and its citizens’ patience. As Somchai warns, “the measure of success will not be the absence of fraud but the absence of frustrated voters.” The next 30 days will reveal whether election planners can turn a potential bottleneck into a showcase of efficient, accessible democracy.