Upper House Election: Voters Could Have Their Ballots Tossed in 3 Municipalities after Being Handed Wrong Forms

The Yomiuri Shimbun

19:44 JST, July 20, 2025

In Sunday’s House of Councillors election, some voters were handed their ballots out of order in three municipalities in Saitama, Shizuoka and Aichi prefectures. Votes cast with the ballots could be deemed invalid for both the constituency and the proportional representation races.

At polling stations, votes are cast with two different ballot papers, one for the constituency race and one for the proportional representation race. In all three municipalities, city officials issued these ballots in the incorrect order.

In Kasukabe, Saitama prefecture, election officials handed ballots out of order to 25 voters who came to a local polling station. According to the city’s election commission, city officials placed the ballot papers in the wrong dispensing machines. The election office said that several officials were checking when the machines were loaded but failed to notice the error. The commission said it will apologize to the affected voters.

In Makinohara, Shizuoka prefecture, city officials again inserted the ballot papers into the wrong dispensing machines, resulting in four people at a local polling station getting the forms in reverse order.

In Kitanagoya, Aichi prefecture, city officials mixed up the ballots and started the voting process without noticing the error, leaving voters with the wrong papers for each vote. Though the officials realized the mistake later, nine people had voted with the wrong ballots.