Taiwanese living abroad will not be eligible for absentee voting under the current plan scheduled for implementation in the 2012 presidential election, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah said Oct. 12.
“The absentee ballot will be granted to all eligible voters in the country, but will not extend to Taiwanese nationals living overseas, nor will it include postal voting,” Jiang said.
The minister’s statement came in response to a report by the Budget Center of the Legislative Yuan, which while reviewing the ministry’s budget for 2011 noted that to include overseas Taiwanese into the absentee voting system for presidential elections would require amending the Constitution.
Saying the ministry is fully cognizant of related stipulations in the Constitution as well as in the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, Jiang stressed nationals need to return to Taiwan to vote to elect the president and vice president.
Under the ministry’s plan, all eligible voters, except those who live abroad, will be able to cast their ballots outside the city or county where their household is registered so long as they file an application within a predesignated period.
The system will allow people who must be on duty on presidential election days to cast their ballots at the polling booth chosen in their applications. Included are those serving in the military or the police, electoral workers and convicts, as well as students and average citizens living away from their registered household. (THN)