Voters in December's poll to elect the committee that will pick the chief executive may be grappling with a ballot paper carrying up to 140 names - and they will have a bigger ballot box to match.
Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing was forced to apologise two years ago for a shortage of ballot boxes in the 2004 Legislative Council election. Problems arose when A3-sized ballots were folded and stuffed into the boxes, which soon filled up.
'I am confident that we won't have the same problems again,' Mr Justice Woo said yesterday.
The commission has prepared 1,000 of the large ballot boxes to avoid a repeat of the chaos.
On December 10, eligible voters will choose 664 Election Committee members. The other 136 are ex officio or nominated without election. The committee will choose the chief executive in March.
The commission expects keen contests in some of the 35 sub-sectors. It has three ballot paper designs, ranging from the normal A4 size to one nearly 60cm long.