Philippine 2013 Elections Alert! Comelec's Indelible Ink found not effective against Flying Voters, study finds

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.

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[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