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Legislative elections and referendums: Polling stations report sporadic problems

Hsieh Yang-chi, a 104-year-old resident of Waipu Township, Taichung County, casts her ballot in the legislative elections yesterday. PHOTO: CHANG JUI-CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES

Although most polling stations reported an orderly and trouble-free voting day, a number of incidents and altercations did occur in yesterday's elections.

An alleged attempt to sabotage the referendum vote at a polling station in Taipei City's Wu Kung primary school, in which 66 referendum ballots were found deliberately tainted by black ink was reported.

Since they were legible, they were still counted, the Taipei City Election Commission said. No suspects have been identified.

In Keelung, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate Yu Hsiang-yao (游祥耀) was stopped by poll workers when he tried to vote while still wearing his campaign vest. They told Yu he had to remove the vest before he could vote.

Yu complied, only to be told he must also remove his polo shirt because his name was printed on it. You finally voted in his undershirt.

Most incidents reported involved confusion or disagreements surrounding the referendum ballots. Although voters were free to not pick up the ballots if they did not wish to vote, defacing ballots or removing them from polling stations are both illegal.

At press time in Taipei City a total of 11 voters had violated regulations, with six tearing up referendum ballots, three tearing up political party ballots, one tearing up legislative ballots and one carrying his political party ballots out of the polling station.

There were also reports elsewhere of voters tearing up ballots.

Although defacing a ballot may result in a fine of up to NT$50,000 (US$1,500), the local electoral commission determines the amount, taking into account the circumstances under which the ballot was defaced.

A Central News Agency (CNA) story reported that in Chiayi, a woman who did not wish to vote in the referendum accidentally picked up referendum ballots. After poll workers refused to take back the ballots, the woman ripped them up.

CNA reported that another woman in Chiayi ripped up her referendum ballots after accidentally stamping them with her own personal chop instead of the official voting chop.

A man in Miaoli County reportedly tore up his ballot because he was in a bad mood after a night of heavy drinking.

Although voting for the legislative elections and the referendum took place at the same locations, ballots were given out at separate tables.

This resulted in some confusion among voters who wished to participate in the referendums but failed to obtain the correct ballots because they were not aware of this or had not been informed by polling station personnel that they had to could pick up the ballots at separate locations.

CNA reported that in Kaohsiung, a couple complained that they did not receive referendum ballots because polling station personnel had not informed them that they had to pick up referendum ballots at a separate desk.

Having left the polling station, they were barred from returning to obtain and cast the referendum ballots.

In a similar incident, two women in Ilan were allowed to gain re-entry to a polling station to cast a referendum vote after leaving before picking up the ballots, a CNA story said.

Meanwhile, in other news, an independent aboriginal legislative candidate, Song Ching-tsai (宋進財), was detained late on Friday night by Taitung judges on suspicion of buying votes, the first legislative candidate to be detained in the election.

Prosecutors said Song was suspected of offering voters between NT$1,000 and NT$1,200 to vote for him.

An official from the Ministry of Justice yesterday said prosecutors nationwide were likely to bring about 10 legislative candidates to court for alleged involvement in vote-buying.

Kinmen prosecutor Wu Wen-cheng (吳文政) said a local candidate was released on NT$100,000 bail for suspected involvement in vote-buying.

To avoid influencing yesterday's election, Wu declined to name the candidate and his party.

In Pingtung, a candidate campaigner was detained for offering several voters NT$500, while four people were released on bail for receiving cash.

The National Police Agency said that between Friday and early yesterday police had identified a total of 50 vote-buying cases nationwide, involving nearly 500 people.
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