IEBC has said that ballot papers issued to voters that were left blank or unused were sealed and stored in the ballot boxes, its lawyer George Murugu has told the Supreme Court.
While making his submission in the ongoing presidential petition at the Supreme Court, lawyer George Murugu seeking to annul the declaration of UDA's William Ruto as the president-elect said that the unused ballot papers are considered by the commission to be rejected votes and are not counted.
"An unmarked ballot is treated as rejected and void and shall not be counted for purposes of declaring a result at the polling station," he told the court.
Murugu is among a team of lawyers representing IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati in the petition.
He said that the voters are issued with ballot papers for the different positions and are expected to vote for those positions.
He added that it is an offence for a voter to fail to place their votes in the ballot boxes.
Murugu said that the presiding officer is then required to record in Form 41 the head of rejection for each ballot.
"Regulation 81(b) then provides that rejected ballots such as the unmarked ballots are sealed in a tamper-proof envelope and placed in a ballot box," he said.
