Electors urged to vote in Legislative Council by-election today (with photo)
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The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, called on registered electors of the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West and New Territories East geographical constituencies (GCs) and the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape (ASPL) Functional Constituency (FC) to vote in the 2018 Legislative Council by-election today (March 11).
"Voting is very simple. It just takes a few minutes to vote. I appeal to electors to exercise their civic rights and vote as early as possible," Mr Justice Fung said after visiting the polling station at Hong Kong Park Sports Centre this morning.
"Electors must bring the original of their Hong Kong identity card or other specified alternative documents to the designated polling station to collect their ballot paper(s) to cast vote(s). Electors may only cast their votes at the designated polling station as specified on their poll card. Electors of the relevant GCs or FC can log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System (OVIES) (www.voterinfo.gov.hk) if they have not yet received their poll card to check whether they are registered electors and their designated polling station. They can also call the election hotline 2891 1001 for enquiries.
A total of 334 ordinary polling stations and 23 dedicated polling stations are open today for about 2.1 million electors of the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, and New Territories East GCs and ASPL FC listed on the 2017 Final Register to cast their votes. Among them, 319 ordinary polling stations will be set up for the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West and New Territories East GCs. Another fifteen ordinary polling stations will also be set up to serve the ASPL FC electors in Kowloon East and New Territories West. The polling hours for the ordinary polling stations and the three dedicated polling stations set up at police stations will be from 7.30am to 10.30pm. For the dedicated polling stations set up at penal institutions, for security reasons, the polling hours will be from 9am to 4pm.
As at 10.30am, 119,794 electors of the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, and New Territories East GCs have voted, bringing the cumulative turnout rate to 5.70 per cent. As for ASPL FC, 616 electors have voted, representing a cumulative turnout rate of 8.09 per cent.
Mr Justice Fung and Commission Members Mr Arthur Luk, SC, and Professor Fanny Cheung, will visit various polling stations today to observe the electoral activities.
The election hotline at 2891 1001 will be in service until 11pm to answer enquiries relating to the by-election.
A complaints hotline at 2827 7251 will operate until 11pm to handle complaints about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.
Once the poll closes, most polling stations in the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West and New Territories East GCs will be converted into counting stations for the GC votes. The counting stations will be open to the public once the conversion has been completed. Members of the public will be able to watch the counting process at designated areas inside the counting stations. Ballot boxes for ASPL FC will be delivered to the Central Counting Station at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), where the counting of votes will take place.
In addition to the Central Counting Station, there is also a media centre at the HKCEC, where the election results for all GCs and FC will be announced by the Returning Officers. A public gallery will be set up for members of the public to watch the announcement of results at the media centre. In view of the limited seating capacity, admission to the public gallery will be arranged on a first come, first served basis from 11pm. To facilitate admission control, members of the public admitted to the venue will be required to wear a wristband provided by the REO for identification purpose.
Hourly voter turnout and by-election results will be available on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk).
Ends/Sunday, March 11, 2018
Issued at HKT 12:06
Issued at HKT 12:06
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