Tests[1]
conducted by a laboratory owned by the Indian company that invented the
indelible ink for voters in elections in 1937 has shown that the type of ink
that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to use for the 2013 elections
would now be useless against flying voters because a new chemical could erase the
ink stain on voters’ index finger within hours.
Like
in previous elections[2]
and in the special registration of voters in the Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao[3], the
Comelec is purchasing more than 700,000
15 ml bottles of indelible ink for use to mark index fingers of each voter
casting their ballot in the 2013 national and local elections. The stain of the
indelible ink is planned to last for three days in voters’ index fingernail to
prevent them from assuming the identity of other voters and voting again.
Mysore
Paints and Varnish Limited, a company owned by the state government of
Karnataka in India that made in 1937[4]
the first batch of indelible ink used in any democratic election worldwide,
reported in a September 2012 laboratory test that it tested six chemicals to
test the efficacy of ink with 7 percent silver nitrate – the type of ink that
the Comelec plans to use in the 2013 elections – and another batch of ink with
12 percent silver nitrate content.
The
Indian indelible ink maker reported that when it tested the six chemicals, the
stain on fingers “completely disappeared, (but the) stain appeared after a few
hours” when 10-percent solution oxalic acid was used.
According
to Wikipedia, “oxalic acid is … a
colorless crystalline solid that dissolves in water to give colorless
solutions. It is classified as a dicarboxylic
acid. In terms of acid strength, it is much stronger than acetic acid.”[5]
The
Mysore laboratory’s tests on the five other chemicals – ethyl alcohol, benzene
alcohol, 10-percent soap acid solution, 95% bleaching agent and kerosene – did
not remove the stain of the indelible ink with a 7-percent silver nitrate.[6]
Oxalic
acid, however, was ineffective when tried on fingers stained with indelible ink
with 12 percent silver nitrate content, according to Mysore.
"As
a result of test, 12% concentration ink is preferred to (a version with) 7%
(silver nitrate content),” the Indian indelible ink maker stated in its report.
It
was unclear, however, if Mysore would recommend to the Philippine government to
shift from the use of ink with 7-percent silver nitrate to another version with
12-percent silver nitrate content.
[1] Test Report and Comparative
Study of Indelible Ink 12% S.N. Concentration and 7% S.N. Concentration, September
09, 2012, Mysore Paint and Varnish Ltd., New Bannimantap Extension, Mysore,
Karnataka, India
[2] http://www.comelec.gov.ph/?r=mediareleases/InvitationtoBid/AwardNotices/NoticeofAwardTexas
[3]http://www.comelec.gov.ph/uploads/mediareleases/InvitationtoBid/AwardNotices/AsaColor_noticeofaward_071912.pdf
[4] http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2012/10/13/voter-ink-linked-to-mysore-kingdom/
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid
[6] Test Report and Comparative
Study of Indelible Ink 12% S.N. Concentration and 7% S.N. Concentration, September
09, 2012, Mysore Paint and Varnish Ltd., New Bannimantap Extension, Mysore,
Karnataka, India
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