The Cabinet yesterday approved a bill that if promulgated would allow Taiwanese to vote in national referendums from outside their constituencies.
The bill, proposed by the Central Election Commission (CEC), would apply to people in Taiwan who are unable or unwilling to return to the place of their household registration, but would not include Taiwanese living overseas.
People who want to vote away from their home constituency would have to apply to the CEC in writing or online for permission to vote in absentia in a referendum a minimum of 60 days before the vote, the draft says.
Photo: Taipei Times
The CEC first submitted the bill to the Cabinet in 2020, in accordance with Article 25 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which states that absentee voting may be allowed during a national referendum, once it is prescribed in a separate law.
The bill failed to clear the legislative floor before the previous legislature ended its four-year term on Jan. 31, making it necessary to propose the bill again.
Once people complete their registration, the local branch of the CEC would compile a list of absentee voting applicants 55 days ahead of the vote, the bill says.
Household registration offices would inspect the list 50 days before the vote, informing applicants of the outcome of their application, it says.
Those who are approved would have their registration temporarily transferred to the household registration office in the constituency from where they applied 45 days ahead of the vote and their names would be published 15 days before the referendum, it says.
On the day of the referendum, they would be able to cast absentee ballots at the transferred voting station, the bill says.
CEC Vice Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) told a news conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting that absentee voting would first be permitted for national referendums, with elections to be a consideration for later.
A law to allow absentee voting would be able to reference experience gained from its implementation in national referendums once a stable procedure is built for it, Chen said.
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