ID card marking may be required for polls

Commissioners of the CEC under the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) already announced a decision to waive the traditional marking the back page of voters’ ID cards in exchange for the ballots at the voting booths. The practice has been implemented for decades to prevent the same voter from casting more than one vote.

But the CEC said it will reconsider the plan following the questions raised by opposition lawmakers who accused the Cabinet agency of creating the opportunities for possible “election rigging” by waiving the ID card marking in exchange for blank ballots.

CEC officials said that the earlier decision of waiving the marking of ID cards because the new cards to be issued will be wholly plastic-sealed and it would impossible to place any mark on either sides the cards.

Yet opposition parties pointed out that voters will still hold their old ID cards when going to the poll stations to get and cast their ballots on Dec. 3.

The government had planned to replace all of the old ID cards earlier this year requiring cardholders to submit their fingerprints.

Yet the heated debate on the requirement of fingerprints prompted the intervention by the Council of Grand Justices which called a halt to the issuance of new ID cards until Dec. 21 at the request of human rights groups.

At the forthcoming meeting, the CEC is expected to reverse its previous decision to stipulate that all the ID cards should be marked this time.

Meanwhile, CEC officials said that all eligible voters in both the public and private sectors will be given a day off on the election day.

As for how to pay the wages of eligible voters in private enterprises or organizations are required to work on Saturday, Dec. 3, the rules will be set by the Council of Labor Affairs, they said.

Voters in Taiwan and offshore islands will simultaneously cast ballots for three local-level government elections this year.

They will elect new county magistrates and all of the city mayors as well as city and county councilors (except the special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung), and township and village chiefs.

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