Elections watchdog to check addresses to stamp out vote-rigging
Watchdog targets 1.6m residents to prevent fraud that marred elections in 2011
The elections watchdog is checking the addresses of 1.6 million registered voters ahead of the district council polls in November to prevent the rigging that marred the last election.
The pool covers 45 per cent of the city's 3.5 million electors.
The exercise would be the fourth since vote-rigging scandals were unearthed in the 2011 district council elections, but the scale would be larger this time than in the past two years, said the chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah.
Apart from regular sampling, "a situation when we will check is where there are many names attached to one address", he said.
It is an offence to knowingly or recklessly give false or misleading information for voter registration. Offenders face a maximum fine of HK$5,000 and six months in jail.
"Even if the wrong is found after the election, people can still be convicted," he said, referring to an amendment to the elections law last year that removed a six-month limit on prosecution.
In 2011, voting fraud spoiled elections in Central Western District and Yau Tsim Mong. In the King's Park constituency of the latter, 45 people were convicted for registering false addresses and other crimes.