Voting hours shortened to allow final checks at polling stations

The voting period for the Legco election will be reduced by an hour - from 8.30am, instead of 7.30am, to 10.30pm - but more polling stations will be available across 10 geographical constituencies, including one at Penny's Bay quarantine center.

A special queue will also be set for those 70 or above, pregnant women and people with mobility issues - an arrangement similar to the Election Committee election in September.

The Electoral Affairs Commission yesterday issued the guidelines for the Legco election and by-elections afterward.

About 50 major amendments have been made to the guidelines, compared to those issued in June last year.

One is the shortening of voting hours to allow polling staff more time to conduct a final check of equipment and other settings, including data network connections, said commission chairman Barnabas Fung Wah.

More than 620 ordinary polling stations will be set up by the Registration and Electoral Office.

The office, after consultation with the Centre for Health Protection, will set a booth at Penny's Bay for electors undergoing compulsory quarantine.

But there will be no arrangements for those under home and hotel quarantine to leave the premises to vote. A polling station will also be set at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for the Election Committee subsector, which will elect 40 of the 90 seats in Legco.

An optical mark recognition machine will be used to verify the votes. Each voter must choose exactly 40 candidates under the block system.

An electronic poll register system will be adopted for issuing ballot papers at stations.

On the setting up of border polling booths, Fung said the commission "has not received any word from the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau."

Asked if voters will have to use the LeaveHomeSafe app when entering the polling stations, Fung said the commission will carefully study the matter.

At a forum yesterday, former Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing insisted the new-term legislative body will not be one-sided.

Tsang also said the legislature - which has been reduced to 41 pro-establishment lawmakers and one pan-democrat legislator - has done a lot of work in the past half-year.

Separately, Bauhinia Party executive committee member Wu Junfei said it is considering sending candidates to run in the Legco and chief executive elections.

carine.chow@singtaonewscorp.com