Forum: Make it easier for nursing home residents to vote

I appreciated the setting up of polling stations at 31 nursing homes for the 2023 Presidential Election (

Special polling arrangements piloted at nursing homes to be discontinued,

Oct 16).

My 85-year-old father, bedridden at Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital @ Potong Pasir, was one of the 4,087 voters who benefited from this initiative.

I briefed my father on the candidates, their speeches and party symbols. He was generally satisfied with the voting process, but complained that the boxes printed on the polling slip were too small for his unsteady fingers to stamp his choice carefully.

My father is eager to vote again. He sees voting in the general election as a significant activity and a citizen’s right. A taxi driver for most of his working life, he remains up to date on current affairs by reading newspapers and being on social media. Every election year, he has reminded family members to vote.

As the special polling arrangements at nursing homes will be discontinued, some residents may need to travel farther to vote because their registered home address is not near their nursing home.

Can the authorities consider making arrangements for these residents? For example, it would be good if a polling station could be set up at the neighbouring St Andrew’s Junior College, so my father could vote there.

Tng Cheong Sing