Absentee voting would severely increase the workload of the electoral affairs agency, Deputy Minister of the Interior Wu Tang-an (吳堂安) said yesterday, instead voicing support for a proposal to make voting day and the preceeding day a national holiday.
The Taiwan People’s Party’s proposal of absentee voting, proposed on Dec. 12 last year, could undergo a third reading as soon as next week.
The Democratic Progressive Party on Nov. 28 last year introduced a bill that would set voting day and the day before as national holidays to encourage voting.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
If absentee voting is enacted, it would likely adopt the “single transferable vote” (STV) method, which would place significant strain on the voting system, especially for local elections, Wu said at a public hearing at the legislature.
The absentee voting system might compromise secrecy, he said, adding that external forces might influence people to apply for absentee voting in a specific area and undermine the fairness of elections.
Citing a Central Election Commission report, Wu said that the commission “respected” the move to introduce an extra off-day, provided that it was viable, would not affect the fairness of elections or referendums and people would trust the impartiality of the election if such a policy were adopted.
Soochow University political science assistant professor Chen Fang-yu (陳方隅) said people are already doubting the fairness of the vote-counting system.
Sealing ballots in boxes and transferring them to other places would only invite more doubt, Chen said, adding that it would also increase the complexity and unpredictability of electoral affairs.
Making the pre-voting day a mandatory holiday would be preferable to introducing absentee voting, as it would not change the system, Chen said.
However, Soochow University Department of Political Science retired professor Hsieh Cheng-yu (謝政諭) said that having an extra day off would not address the issue of voter turnout.
It is highly possible that if the election is not a huge one, people might choose to use the extra day for outings instead, Hsieh said.
Better Together for NextGen Taiwan chairman Chang Yu-meng (張育萌) said that although no one would know how you voted in a secret ballot, such “secrecy” would be compromised if someone were to be able to identify the political leanings of local voters based on the election results.
The “secrecy” of off-island voting and ballots in indigenous peoples’ areas has been doubted or compromised in the past, and an absentee voting system might cast the same shadow over votes by people outside of their registered residences, Chang said.
Attorney Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) asked what measures are being introduced to ensure that these kinds of ballots — exceeding 8,000 types — are kept safe, delivered to the right places and not leaked or intercepted during transport.
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