Proposals to allow people in COVID-19 isolation to cast absentee ballots or vote at designated polling places during next month’s election have “no legal basis” and cannot be implemented, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said Wednesday.
In a press release, the commission said that methods used in Japan and South Korea to allow COVID-19 patients to vote, such as voting by mail or at specially designated times or polling places, are not permitted under Taiwan’s election laws.
It cited Article 17 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, which states that a voter must cast their ballot “at the polling station at the place of domicile unless otherwise prescribed.”
The phrase “unless otherwise prescribed,” it said, refers specifically to election officials who are allowed to vote at the polling station where they are working.
As Taiwanese law currently lacks the relevant guidelines, proposals to allow people to vote away from their place of domicile, or at specially-designated polling places, have “no legal basis” and cannot be implemented, the commission said.
In effect, the CEC announcement passes the decision to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), which guides Taiwan’s COVID-related policies and could still relax quarantine rules specifically to allow people observing the 7-day isolation protocol to vote.
As of last week, CECC chief Victor Wang (王必勝) said the issue remained under consideration.
Earlier this month, the New Power Party (NPP) warned of the civil rights implications of failing to change the current policy, noting that the Nov. 26 election could see “hundreds of thousands” of people unable to vote because of a recent COVID-19 infection.
Those numbers are especially important in this year’s elections, which include a question on ratifying a constitutional amendment to lower the voting age from 20 to 18, and must be passed with support from a majority of all eligible voters, the party said.
At the time, the NPP said that if the government failed to take action, it could seek an interpretation from the Constitutional Court, in order to safeguard people’s right to vote.
Over 250,000 people in Taiwan have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last seven days, CECC data shows.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel