The form of voting in the Legislative Council is about election fairness

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Written by: Review Editor Room

2020-07-21 17:00

With the third wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, it is unknown whether the election of the Legislative Council in September will be affected. The establishment party called for a postponement of the election, while the democrats questioned the reason for election considerations. To be fair, the delay of two weeks or one month does not seem to have a significant impact on the election. For the authorities, it is more important to understand that this extraordinary administrative arrangement is more related to election fairness.

The outside world generally believes that there are as many as 100,000 Legislative Council voters living in the Mainland, and most of them are supporters of the establishment. Therefore, the 14-day quarantine requirement for returning to Hong Kong will discourage establishment elections. Tan Yaozong, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said on a radio program that many citizens who live and work in the Greater Bay Area may not return to Hong Kong to vote during the epidemic.

Foreign voters regardless of position

But it must be pointed out that regardless of their political stance, as long as they are voters in the Legislative Council election, they have the right to vote on election day. And voters outside the country are not only in the mainland, for example, many people are in the UK, Canada, Australia, etc. Under normal circumstances, it is of course their responsibility to return to Hong Kong to vote. However, in the special situation of the epidemic, even if they intend to return to Hong Kong, they still have to face the 14th quarantine requirement, which greatly increases the cost of their voting and dampens their desire to vote.

In fact, from calling for voter registration to propagating for election day, the government's responsibility is to facilitate voters to vote. In the face of the epidemic, the authorities should also adopt a consistent mindset and find ways to facilitate these Hong Kong people living abroad to vote instead of resorting to political calculations. The current postponement plan advocated by the main forces of the establishment is certainly a method, but the epidemic is unpredictable, and whether postponement can effectively solve the problem is not without question.

In fact, there have always been at least two ways to facilitate voting. One is mail voting, which is commonly used in the United States; the other is an overseas voting station. France, which has many overseas citizens, is a representative. Hong Kong has not adopted it in the past, or because of the limited number of overseas voters, there is little need. But the special circumstances under the epidemic now highlight the need in this regard.

Operating space under current regulations

Although the current Electoral Affairs Commission (Election Procedures) (Legislative Council) Regulation does not allow mail voting, according to Article 7 of the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance and Article 82 of the Legislative Council Ordinance, the EAC may Both the Chief Executive in Council and the Executive Council can formulate new regulations to allow mail-in voting and specify the handling procedures for mail-in ballots, including mail must be accompanied by a copy of the voter’s identity certificate for verification, polling station staff should open the mail on election day, Ballots must be put into the ballot box by the ballot station staff in a sealed state.

As for the establishment of overseas ticketing stations, there is already a certain basis under the current regulations. At present, voters in prison have "dedicated polling stations", and people with disabilities have "special polling stations." Overseas voters who are unable to return to Hong Kong from overseas should also have the right to vote at special polling stations. Article 28 of the Electoral Affairs Commission (Election Procedure) (Legislative Council) Regulation stipulates that the Chief Electoral Officer may designate any building or place as a polling station or counting station, and section 78 of the Legislative Council Ordinance also allows election control The Assistant Returning Officer will be appointed to perform the functions and powers of the polling station. Therefore, the EAC can also set up polling stations overseas and appoint the Assistant Returning Officer. Although there are still issues to be dealt with in the counting process of functional constituency ballots delivered to the central counting station, the Electoral Affairs Commission or the Chief Executive in Council can also formulate new regulations to exempt these restrictions.

For government officials, how to arrange voting may only be an administrative issue. But for the democratic election itself, facilitating voters to vote so that everyone can express their wishes with one vote is related to the fairness of the election. In this regard, the authorities are duty-bound, and they cannot look at it from the perspective of political or electoral calculations.

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