There is no legal basis to set up special polling stations for people with COVID-19 who are under home isolation, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday.
Political figures have urged the commission to provide options for people with COVID-19 to vote on Nov. 26 after it last week said that people who are under orders to isolate at home would not be allowed out to vote.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus on Tuesday cited practices in other countries.
Japan allowed family members of quarantined voters to cast an absentee ballot for them, South Korea extended voting periods by 90 minutes, with the added time reserved for people in quarantine, and the US allowed anyone to vote in person, but asked people with COVID-19 to wear a mask and practice social distancing, the KMT said.
CEC Deputy Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) yesterday said that voting is a basic right, so people can do so as long as they can legally leave their home, but the right to health should also be considered.
People with COVID-19 in Japan, South Korea and the US could vote in previous elections because those nations have mail-in ballots, early voting and specialized polling stations, adaptations based on their domestic laws, Chen said, adding that the regulations in Taiwan are different.
Article 17 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) stipulates that people can only vote at polling stations designated for their household registration, with the only exception being staff at polling stations, who can vote at the polling station they work at, he said.
There is no legal basis to allow mail-in ballots or set up special polling stations, he said.
Some people have asked why special rooms for school-entrance exams can be set up for students with COVID-19, but special polling stations cannot be set up, Chen said.
The answer is: The law does not limit where students are to sit a test based on their household registration, he said.
There are to be 17,649 polling stations and if a special booth were set up at every one, some would be used by many voters with COVID-19, but some might be used by a single voter, which would cause problems with ensuring that ballots are kept secret, he said.
If the Central Epidemic Command Center changes COVID-19 restrictions before the elections, the CEC would cooperate with the latest policies, he added.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS