FUNDS were yesterday approved for a new computer system to improve voter registration. The Finance Committee approved the allocation of $28.48 million to the Registration and Electoral Office. However, independent legislator Andrew Wong Wang-fat doubted whether it was worthwhile to buy such an expensive system because the Government had no intention of introducing an automatic voter registration system. Principal Assistant Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Joseph Lai Yee-tak said the Government had looked at the possibility of automatic voter registration based on information kept in the Immigration Department. However, there were difficulties. Not all the records of the Immigration Department were computerised and some were kept on microfiche. ''In other words, if we want to retrieve this information, it will have to be done manually,'' he said. ''That takes a lot of time, and it will cost a lot of money.'' Mr Lai also pointed out that the records would not necessarily establish whether a particular individual would be qualified to vote, and the information constantly became out-dated because of the high population mobility of Hong Kong.
