Amendments to Singapore’s elections laws include giving nursing home residents special voting arrangements, as well as updating election advertising laws.
SINGAPORE: Eligible Singaporeans living overseas will be able to vote by post in future elections as part of changes to the country’s election laws passed in Parliament on Monday .
The Bills were passed in Parliament, although the nine Members of Parliament from the Workers’ Party abstained from the vote to amend the Presidential Elections Act. After Nomination Day, postal voters will be able to go on ELD’s online voter services to download and print their postal ballot paper and pre-paid return envelope.
For example, the return envelope must bear the signature of the voter given during registration and an official QR code which is unique for each voter. The QR code enables the wet-ink signature on the return envelope to be matched against the signature provided during registration. This new option is a “positive development” which has “the potential of empowering many more overseas Singaporeans to have their say” in the national polls, she added.ELD to pilot portable lap booths for nursing home voters, QR code envelopes for overseas SingaporeansThe amendments passed on Monday will also allow nursing home residents to get “special polling arrangements”, making it more convenient for them to cast their votes there, announced Mr Chan.
In response to MP Louis Ng’s question on how the Returning Officer would establish special polling stations in a nursing home, Mr Chan said ELD has engaged the Health Ministry to understand the profiles of the residents and in-patients. ELD also visited these nursing homes to understand their “unique context and environment”.
First, the scope of OEA has been extended to include amplifying access, such as boosting, reposting, sharing or resharing of existing OEA. The Returning Officer can also specify that the corrective actions must be taken within a certain period of time, so that breaches are addressed promptly during the short campaigning period.
She noted that the changes to election advertising were “very detailed and must have been under consideration for quite some time”, yet the changes were announced just a month ago.
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