Singaporeans abroad glad postal voting being considered

Singaporean Tay Sok Hwee, 43, has never voted in an election.

The music therapist at a hospice has lived in South Carolina in the United States since she was 21, and the drive from her home in Aiken to the nearest polling station, the Singapore Embassy in Washington, takes nine hours.

"It's just too far," she said. She is among the overseas Singaporeans interviewed who welcomed the proposal by the Elections Department (ELD) to have postal voting.

They feel the security risks involved are a comparatively small price to pay for the convenience of mailing ballot papers.

Since overseas voting was introduced in 2006, Singaporeans abroad have had to vote in person at polling stations set up at Singapore missions in selected cities.

Pianist See Chee Hang, 35, who has been in the US for 14 years, once drove 18 hours to and from Charleston in South Carolina to vote in Washington in 2011.

He could not vote in subsequent polls due to school commitments and the pandemic, and welcomes the convenience of postal voting.

But he suggested it should be offered on a case by case basis to those who cannot make it to polling stations, given the potential for fraud and lost ballots.

Mr Choo Yan Ru, 29, a first-year PhD student at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, was more concerned about whether the online registration process for postal voting would be smooth.

"Having the option to vote at all is better than being unable to vote because of supposed security concerns," he said.

Entrepreneur Sonia Muto, 31, who lives in Okinawa, Japan, welcomed postal voting, saying: "Singapore, being Singapore... would take steps to ensure that our vote will be private."

But media professional Say Xiangyu, 34, who lives in Beijing, hoped the ELD would not do away with in-person voting altogether.

She lives 10 minutes away from the Singapore Embassy, and said it would be easier to cycle there than download and print the ballot paper and mail it.

Last night, the ELD held its first consultation session with political parties on the new arrangements proposed. There are also plans to allow nursing home residents to vote at the homes.

A People's Action Party spokesman said the party "looks forward to participating in this consultation process", while the Workers' Party said "the WP will be attending the consultation, and has no further comments for now".

Progress Singapore Party chief Francis Yuen said while making voting more accessible is a good thing, how it would actually pan out would depend on the execution.

He said there have been purported incidents in previous polls where some said they saw polling officers taking wheelchair users right into the polling booths, which is against the rules.

"If this can happen at normal voting stations, then the risk at nursing homes may be even higher," he said. He added it would require a lot of resources for parties to send their representatives to nursing homes to witness the process.

The Singapore Democratic Party welcomed the proposed changes, but said the initiatives do not assuage Singaporeans' concerns that "the ELD still operates from the Prime Minister's Office", adding that "gerrymandering and arbitrary formation" of constituencies leave the election system stacked in the PAP's favour.

The ELD will consult nursing home operators on June 2 and 3.

NTUC Health head of clinical services and residential care Goh Siew Hor said that in previous elections, the nursing homes had helped to make arrangements for residents who wanted to vote to do so.

Staff accompanied some of them to the nearest polling station, or coordinated with family members.

Dr Goh said: "As many of our nursing home residents are wheelchair-or bed-bound, bringing the balloting on site to the nursing home will bring added convenience to those who wish to cast their votes."