Strengthen your staffing to prevent vote-rigging, Hong Kong’s election watchdog told

Political parties and a scholar have called on the election watchdog to beef up its checks on “problematic” voter registration by significantly expanding its staff after more than 1,000 voter-related complaints were filed with the office ahead of the district council elections in November.

They said it was the only way to prevent vote-rigging which could drastically hamper the fairness of the elections, given a tiny number of votes could alter poll results because the number of voters in each constituency is small.

Over the past week, the city’s courts have processed around 1,500 complaints - many from political parties - about problematic registrations. Some cases pointed to residents of homes for the elderly being registered without their consent.

The Registration and Electoral Office issued inquiry letters to some 82,000 voters during a check earlier this year, asking the recipients to confirm or update their addresses. Those who failed to reply by a given time were removed from the electoral roll.

Democrat Andrew Wan Siu-kin, a Kwai Tsing district councillor who has lodged 55 objections, said the office should not only enlarge the scope of its checks but also visit the residences of all voters who fail to get back to them.

“This could be done if the office employs 100 more staff and that could already effectively lower the chances for people to manipulate the election,” he said.