A ‘yes’ to absentee voting
The Taipei Times has reported that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has proposed a bill to introduce absentee voting in Taiwan, and the Taiwan People’s Party has also endorsed this move (“KMT legislators eye absentee voting proposals,” Jan. 25, page 1). This deserves a fair hearing.
The allowance for mail-in voting (or simply voting by way of drop boxes, as well as electronic voting) allows for voting outside of any sort of “household registration” requirement in alignment with the place one lives or was born.
To be sure this idea “would help deepen the nation’s democracy” as KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said, with such a move improving voter turnout, not only those who live in remote areas or have other difficulty accessing polls, but also those who are unable to vote because they cannot return to their home districts (often simply due to employment requirements). Most important would be the ability of Taiwanese living abroad to vote. These people are, after all, citizens of this nation and they should have the right to participate in elections, wherever they live. Such a policy is seen as a norm in many nations.
The US has had absentee voting since as far back as the US Civil War and it is seen as the model nowadays. I myself have voted as an absentee in Taiwan in every US federal election since 2000, and it has been a great honor to be able to do this.
Not every nation allows for absentee voting, but it can be seen as a “trending issue among democratic countries worldwide,” as KMT legislator-elect Sean Liao (廖偉翔) said.
It is a thoroughly modern, and entirely inclusive methodology, and should be adopted by Taiwan as soon as possible. The nation should not lag behind on this issue.
In the article, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) seems hesitant about this development, and to say that simply “believing” in election results is enough would not do. Taiwanese should introduce “new mechanisms to increase the number of voters.” As noted it is a global democratic inclination.
Drawing in the bulk of all eligible Taiwanese voters to elections should be seen as the new normal.
Needless to say, Taiwanese who live in free, democratic nations should be allowed to vote, while the DPP claims that Taiwanese living in China would be unduly and negatively influenced by Chinese intervention seems at best a long shot. There is no reason that all of these votes from citizens of Taiwan, wherever they live, would not be “certifiable and trustworthy.”
If 2 million more Taiwanese could be given the right to vote with this policy, as the article states, that could only be a positive development for democracy in Taiwan, and let us hope we can see this soon.
David Pendery
Taipei
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