New Hong Kong polling stations praised but few ethnic minority voters use them

More than 20,000 Hongkongers – mostly civil servants – signed up to cast their ballots at new designated polling stations set up to facilitate voting in the Legislative Council election, while fewer than 20 individuals from ethnic minority communities made use of the new arrangement.

Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Justice David Lok Kai-hong said on Sunday that the watchdog would review the arrangement of designated polling stations after the election, stressing that no benchmarks were set for turnout at these newly introduced spots.

“This is a pilot scheme which we hope will make voting convenient for voters. If the designated polling station is used frequently, we may recommend it [for future use]; if it’s used less frequently, we will evaluate the arrangement,” he said.

In an unprecedented move, authorities set up 22 designated polling stations across the city for civil servants and disciplined service officers, Hospital Authority staff, residents and workers of care homes for the elderly and disabled, and ethnic minority groups. This is in addition to the 615 general polling stations.

The four new types of polling stations were set up to allow people who had to work on election day to return to their duties as soon as possible after casting their vote, and for ethnic minority voters to cast their ballot after attending religious activities at the Sikh temple and mosque nearby.

According to figures released by the government, a total of 22,236 people registered to vote in the geographical constituencies at those polling stations.