Plans for voting by post and at nursing homes

Plans are in the works to allow more eligible voters to cast their ballots without having to go to polling stations by the presidential election next year.

Residents of nursing homes may be able to vote from their beds, and Singaporeans living overseas may be able to vote by mail, in changes proposed by the Elections Department (ELD) to make it easier for people to vote.

The department announced yesterday that it is launching consultations with political parties, nursing homes and Singaporeans abroad, with a view to starting a pilot in some nursing homes and rolling out postal voting in time for the presidential election in September next year.

Results of the consultation exercise will be announced in July.

The proposed changes, first broached in March in Parliament, are part of a regular review of election processes, and come after changes to some processes during the July 10, 2020 General Election. GE 2020 was held during the Covid-19 outbreak, with elderly Singaporeans assigned designated windows for voting, and some people allowed to vote from hotel rooms where they were quarantined.

An ELD spokesman said at a technical briefing for the media yesterday that the election highlighted two key issues in the electoral landscape - that the ageing electorate will need more help and that overseas Singaporeans are keen to exercise their vote.

In GE2020, 21 per cent of all registered voters were aged 65 and above, up from 14 per cent in GE2011. This percentage is set to grow as the population ages.

The ELD spokesman said the plan to allow elderly residents from nursing homes to vote at the homes is similar to what was done during GE2020 for voters who were quarantined at designated hotels. There are about 80 nursing homes with 13,000 residents in Singapore.

To facilitate this, the ELD is considering setting up an on-site polling station in a general area in nursing homes, among others.

The ELD will decide on the criteria for nursing homes to be included in the pilot after consulting political parties and home operators.

The ELD spokesman said at least one polling agent per candidate will be allowed to observe the polling proceedings, in the interest of transparency.

As the profile of residents across nursing homes varies widely in terms of their physical and mental health, the assistance that they need may be very different, the ELD said.

Given this, nursing home staff may also have to help voters cast their ballots, and the ELD will spell out what staff at nursing homes can and cannot do. For instance, staff will not be allowed to help voters mark the ballot papers.

During the pandemic, travel bans had prevented some Singaporeans living overseas from voting. Since overseas voting was introduced in 2006, overseas polling stations have been the only places where they can vote. But in 2020, travel curbs meant that some voters could not make it to the 10 cities - Beijing, Canberra, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo and Washington - where the overseas polling stations were set up.

At GE2020, there were 6,570 registered overseas voters, and of these, 4,794 cast their ballots.

In all, there are about 200,000 Singaporeans living overseas. But the number who meet the criteria to vote is expected to be smaller, as they need to be of the voting age of 21 and above, have a local contact address, and have lived in Singapore for an aggregate of at least 30 days during the three-year period before the deadline to register as a voter.

The ELD said it has studied the experience of many countries that have introduced postal voting, such as the United States, and has gleaned valuable insights on the benefits and challenges involved. For instance, it is hard to ensure security and secrecy with mail-in votes, since ballot papers can be lost or tampered with during delivery.

To mitigate against these issues, the ELD is exploring delivering postal ballot papers and return envelopes to overseas voters via electronic means, and having the voters download these with their Singpass account. The voters can then print the ballot papers and return envelopes themselves.

They will have to have submitted a specimen of their signature while registering as postal voters.

Overseas ballot papers will be removed from the envelope and will be mixed with other postal ballot papers before votes are counted.

Envelopes postmarked after the eve of Polling Day in Singapore will be rejected, to ensure that all postal ballot papers are marked before the close of polls in Singapore.

Postal votes will also have to reach the ELD no later than 10 days after Polling Day to be counted. This strikes a balance between the different standards of postal services in other countries and the need to ensure that counting of votes is not delayed, said the ELD spokesman. Tampered ballot papers will also be rejected.

The ELD has invited all registered political parties in Singapore for the consultation exercise, which started yesterday and will be held until Saturday, and will speak to nursing home operators from June 2 to 3.

It will also reach out to overseas Singaporeans through an online survey that will take place next month. It will be open till June 8.

Singaporeans interested in giving feedback on the proposed arrangements can also e-mail the ELD at contact@eld.gov.sg