People who volunteer to help out at poll stations for the Nov. 24 elections could be given two compensatory days off and extra pay as an incentive, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday, amid a shortage of election workers as at least 10 referendums might be held in tandem with the nine-in-one elections.
In an apparent move to gain leeway in how it holds the referendums, the commission yesterday held a hearing in Taipei on whether the referendums should be separated from the elections. The meeting was attended by academics, lawmakers and local election commission officials.
One CEC member asked whether the election of mayors, county commissioners, and city and county councilors across the nation could be considered “nationwide polls.”
Article 23 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the commission should hold referendums within one to six months of their initiation, but should do so alongside “nationwide elections” if they fall within that time frame, National Chengchi University law professor Liu Tzong-der (劉宗德) said.
It would be inappropriate to change the rules after a public hearing or to use the commission’s administrative discretion, he said, adding that holding referendums simultaneously with general elections is the norm in Japan and a number of Western countries.
The law stipulates that referendums must be held in conjunction with nationwide elections, eliminating any room for deviation, National Cheng Kung University political science professor Yang Yung-nane (楊永年) said.
Separating referendums from nationwide elections could mean breaking the law, and could drive up the tangible and intangible cost of referendums, Yang said, adding that the agency responsible for such a decision would have to bear a heavy political burden.
Considering the unprecedented scope of the referendums, election commissions should step up efforts to explain voting rules, facilitating the voting process and preventing the public from accidentally casting ballots into the wrong boxes, he said.
The central government, which is in charge of referendums and elections, should expedite the disbursement of funds to help local governments print gazettes and ballots, Yang added.
The spirit of Article 23 is for referendums to be held in tandem with elections that are held nationwide, whether of central or local government officials, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) said, adding that the only exception would be local by-elections of officials.
The article stipulates that referendums “should” — not “may” — be held alongside nationwide elections that fall within six months of their initiation, leaving no room for interpretation, he said.
“Although the CEC and election officials are under a lot of pressure, they should make an all-out effort to ensure that the polls go smoothly, Wu said. “It is against the law to change the rules by invoking insufficient funds or technical difficulties.”
KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) questioned the hearing’s intent.
The CEC should not attempt to interpret referendum rules creatively, or the consequences could be more than it or the rest of the Ministry of the Interior can bear, Tseng said.
The Taipei Election Commission is struggling to print three times as many gazettes as it did for previous elections, due to the number of referendums expected to be held, Taipei Department of Civil Affairs Deputy Commissioner Hsu Min-chuan (許敏娟) said.
Local election authorities are fighting over printers with other agencies, Hsu said.
Miaoli Election Commission Deputy Director-General Tseng Hsueh-hua (曾雪花) asked the Ministry of Education representative to present plans to boost participation by teachers in the organization of the polls, saying that no teachers have yet volunteered in the county.
The commission said that to boost public participation in polling work, it would ask the relevant agencies to make sure that companies give employees two compensatory leave days if they volunteer to help on election day, which falls on a Saturday, instead of one day off as originally planned.
The commission would also ask for more funds to raise pay for pol workers if more referendums are initiated before election day, the commission said.
It would ask the education ministry to formulate measures to boost participation by teachers at the polls, it said.
As of yesterday, the commission had received 10 petitions for referendums and was in the process of verifying the collected signatures, it said.
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