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Editorial: The distribution debate rages on

The dispute goes on over whether voters should pick up referendum ballots at the same time they pick up candidate election ballots in the legislative and presidential elections. The dispute has extended to the Central Election Commission (CEC), which has delayed its decision on the issue in the hope that further debate will resolve it, but the chance of a consensus is slim.

Many countries hold joint referendums and elections because it is convenient for voters and saves money. Although they might find it somewhat inconvenient, voters and electoral authorities don't consider this to be a big deal.

Distributing ballots separately would facilitate vote counting and make mistakes less likely, though it would require more manpower. And there is a small chance that voters would put their ballots in the wrong box.

Technically speaking, both methods have advantages and disadvantages. Although in the 2004 election referendum ballots were handed out separately from the presidential ballot, previous three-in-one elections with the ballots issued simultaneously and cast separately didn't cause any major problems.

Either approach is unproblematic from an electoral perspective. When the opposition parties insist that issuing all ballots at the same time would create "chaos," they are either grossly underestimating the voters' intelligence or have other intentions, implying that if ballots are issued together, some people will deliberately create "chaos."

The two sides haggle over every detail because they are afraid that combining -- or not combining -- the referendums and the presidential election will affect their projects.

At the legislative elections next year, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has an anti-corruption referendum, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a referendum on stolen party assets. The presidential election will be combined with the referendums on the UN. Issuing ballots at the same time will increase referendum turnout and there will be a better chance for these referendums to pass the required threshold. This would be good for both parties, unless, of course, one of the parties does not actually want its referendum to take place.

All that is needed to resolve the issue is to make the election ballots and referendum ballots different colors, and let voters drop the ballots into boxes of the corresponding color. This eliminates the risk of mixing up the ballots even if they are issued at the same time. It's quite simple, but because everyone is too busy furthering their own political agenda, the matter has turned into a complicated and difficult political deadlock.

It is clear that if both referendums pass, public support for Taiwanese UN membership will be confirmed, and the opposition and ruling parties will have a chance to reach a compromise on how and under what name to achieve this goal.

But if neither referendum passes because of unnecessary technical hurdles in the voting process, this would be a loss for the KMT, the DPP and Taiwanese, and would only serve to strengthen Taiwan's adversaries.
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