Eyebrows raised over thank-you card for voting have politicians busy in clearing doubts

A number of arrangements have been pushed by the government in recent days to appeal to the public to vote in the District Council Election, including the thank-you card for people after casting their votes. However, the civil services union is concerned that the cards might be used to pressure civil servants into proving they have cast their ballots.

Leung Chau-ting, the founder and chairman of the Federation of Civil Service Union, said Tuesday that it is understandable for the government to hope the civil servants will lead by example by casting their votes in the upcoming election. 

However, he noted the civil servants have obviously felt the pressure to vote due to the government and bureaux' overwhelming appeals, as there have never been any repeated calls by the government for civil officials to cast ballots in prior elections.

Leung added that some are worried they have to submit or take pictures of the thank-you cards as evidence for voting.

In an attempt to ease the doubts, Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki stressed the government would "definitely not" require civil servants to use the card as proof and called on people not to come up with conspiracy theories.

The Civil Service Bureau stated that civil servants will not be required to certify or declare in any way after casting their votes and that the government can't track whether they have voted.

It added that the government only wishes to express gratitude for voters with the thank-you card.