Taiwanese might soon be able to vote in referendums from anywhere within the country after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a bill that would allow ballots to be cast away from home districts.
The new rules, which have been sent to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation, will not apply to the referendums on Dec. 18 or for people outside of Taiwan.
It is inconvenient and expensive for many people who work or study away from their registered district to travel there to cast a ballot, which affects their right to vote, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said of the need for absentee voting.
Eligible voters would be allowed to “transfer” their ballot to a polling location in another district, while those in remote areas or outlying islands could vote from elsewhere within their city or county, the proposed rules say.
However, people must apply at least 60 days in advance with their local CEC office for approval to vote in such fashion to allow time to prepare voter rolls, the bill says.
An estimated 2 million people nationwide would be affected by the changes, CEC Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said, adding that there was not enough time to implement the new rules by December, but hopefully they can be promulgated by 2023.
In early 2018, Article 25 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) was amended to allow absentee voting in referendums, which required a separate law to be drafted to prescribe the procedure.
Absentee voting in referendums has been discussed for many years, but there has been disagreement on how it should be implemented, the CEC said.
With the understanding that voting should be protected from outside interference to ensure reliable results, the community has agreed on a gradual and progressive approach, it said.
Instead of other common methods of absentee voting, such as mail-in ballots, electronic voting and voting by proxy, the commission said it decided on a “vote transfer” approach, as it still allows people to vote in person on the day of a referendum.
If the system works well, it might inform potential absentee voting procedures for regular elections, the CEC said.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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