Seventy incidents involving 72 individuals allegedly contravening the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) occurred during yesterday’s local elections, the National Police Agency said.
The incidents included 37 counts of destroying ballots and 24 counts of bringing mobile phones into voting booths, the agency said, citing nationwide information compiled as of 4pm, when polls closed.
Also among the alleged contraventions were six people campaigning on election day, two being disruptive within 30m of polling stations and one who refused to leave a polling station after being asked.
Photo courtesy of a member of the public
Also among the reported incidents was a man surnamed Hsu (許) in Tainan’s Anding District (安定) who tore up his ballots for mayor and city councilor as he walked out of the polling station, saying he only wished to vote for the borough warden.
In Yunlin County, a woman surnamed Huang (黃) said she discovered after arriving at the polling site that someone had already taken her ballot and persuaded the monitors to give her another set of ballots so she could vote.
The Central Election Commission said, after investigation, that the incident was an error on the electoral personnel’s part, as they had stamped Huang’s name by accident before she obtained her ballots.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was accused of contravening the election and recall act for wearing a jacket with the party’s acronym printed on the back.
Article 65 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act forbids wearing or exhibiting flags, emblems, items or clothing that feature the logos of political parties or groups on election day, and that individuals failing to heed orders to leave a polling station after being asked to could face criminal prosecution.
People could be fined NT$5,000 to NT$50,000 under Article 44 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) for inserting anything other than a official ballot into a ballot box or intentionally destroying ballots.
Separately, Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), campaign director for Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), said that polling station officials in some boroughs — including Neihu’s Baohu (寶湖), Daan’s Huxiao (虎嘯) and Beitou’s Yonghe (永和) — folded the ballots over Chen’s name, which would be a “technical obstruction” of electoral affairs.
The Taipei Election Commission said the allegation was investigated and no evidence of such incidents were found.
In Taichung’s Tanzih District (潭子), a man surnamed Chen (陳) said that polling station monitors were not handing out ballots for the voting-age referendum, based on his observations.
Taichung City Election Commission Director-General Huang Chung-tien (黃崇典) said that the allegation would be reviewed.
The Yunlin County Election Commission yesterday said it reminded personnel at its 617 voting stations to hand every voter a referendum ballot after some people said they were not given a ballot until they asked for it, while others were allegedly asked if they wanted a ballot before being handed one.
Polling monitors and volunteers should not ask whether voters want to receive ballots, although their wishes should be respected if they refuse, the Central Election.
Additional reporting by Shihsh Hsiao-kuang,
Wu Su-wei and CNA
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