Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they would introduce a bill to allow absentee voting when the new legislative session starts on Thursday next week.
Absentee voting would help deepen the nation’s democracy, KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said, urging all parties to support the measure, as it “must be done.”
KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) said that difficulties in reaching polling stations in Kinmen County, which she represents, often contribute to low voter turnout.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Allowing absentee voting would help improve voter turnout in outlying islands, Chen said.
Public service workers, such as police officers, are also deprived of their voting rights, as they could be assigned to work out of town on election day, she said.
Citing data from a 2021 Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics census, KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said that about 2 million people would benefit from absentee voting.
KMT legislator-elect Sean Liao (廖偉翔) said he would support drafting laws to enable absentee voting, adding that this is a trending issue among democratic countries worldwide and Taiwan should not lag behind other nations.
Incoming Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislator-at-large Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said his party would also make absentee voting a primary issue in the upcoming legislative session, adding that voters in a democratic nation should not be forced to give up their right to cast a ballot if they cannot make it to the polls.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said it was more important for the public to believe in the election results than introduce new mechanisms to increase the number of voters.
Absentee ballots could introduce additional issues, such as people voting from China and how to verify those votes, Hung said.
The primary principle in creating an absentee-voting system is making sure that the voting can be certifiable and trustworthy, he said.
DPP Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) said that he supports allowing people to be able to vote where they work rather than where their household registration is.
However, Chang said he was more hesitant about adopting a vote-by-mail system like the US has.
Whether Taiwanese in China can vote of their own free will is an issue in light of Beijing’s heavy-handed attempts to intervene in Taiwan’s elections, he said.
If the technology was mature, he would support absentee voting, but any implementation should be gradual, he said.
In other election news, incoming TPP legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said that some voting station staff had tried to stop monitors from recording the ballot-counting during the Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections.
She also said that at a voting station in Tainan’s Anping District (安平), the police were asked to remove a monitor, adding that the party would send a letter to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on such issues.
CEC Vice Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said that the commission is open to suggestions about improving the election process and would forward opinions on legal amendments to higher authorities for discussion, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu
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