Just one hour shaved off district polling day

Stacy Shi

Voting time for the revamped district council election in December will be shortened by one hour from the last poll in 2019, meaning that voters will cast their votes from

8.30 am to 10.30 pm.

In announcing the new hours yesterday, Electoral Affairs Commission chairman David Lok Kai-hong said the shorter hours had nothing to do with the anticipated turnout.

The EAC did not have full consultation given the short preparation time for the reform plans, so the most prudent way was to keep the voting time that the public was familiar with, and therefore shortened it by just one hour, taking reference from the 2021 Legislative Council Election, he said.

"According to the report submitted after the last election, cutting one hour [from

7.30 am to 8.30 am] will have less impact on the voting turnout," Lok said, adding that the 14 hour voting period is still long enough and "people who intend to vote will vote."

Lok also said the voting hours were not slashed right back to 10 as some Legislative Council members had suggested, as some voters had to work later into the night, and it would be difficult to require them to vote earlier in the evening.

The 470 district council members will be made up of 179 appointed, 27 ex-officio, 88 geographical constituency members and 176 district committees constituency members.

Voting hours for the newly established district committees constituency will be from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm, a total of six hours, but vote counting will not be conducted before the district council geographical constituency election closes in the hope that it will not affect the overall voting result.

"Electors can refer to the poll cards to be issued to them by the Registration and Electoral Office about the polling hours. It will remind committees constituency electors on the envelope for the poll cards issued to them that the poll for the DCC will take place in different polling stations," Lok said.

About 600 ordinary polling stations will be set up, as well as 18 DCC polling stations and a maximum of 48 dedicated polling stations at correctional institutions or police stations.

The Electronic Poll Register system will continue to be implemented for issuing ballot papers and verifying identities at most ordinary and DCC stations, for a more accurate and efficient issuance of ballot papers

The deadline for candidates to submit advertisements has also been relaxed to three working days from just one.

In terms of the election expenses, the maximum amount for a candidate of the DCC is HK$100,000, while that for a district council geographical constituency candidate will range from HK$512,400 to HK$951,600, depending on the size of the constituency.