To save the Legislative Council election from the coronavirus, take it online

If the coronavirus crisis is not resolved by September, voters might have to choose between their health and their civic duty
Hong Kong should plan ahead, introduce vote-by-mail or build an e-voting system around the smart HKID card

Nicholas Gordon

Published: 8:30am, 12 Apr 2020

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There are times when social distancing conflicts with social responsibility. Voting is one of those times. While we can hope life will have returned to normal by the time of the Legislative Council election in September, we need to prepare for the possibility that it will not have.

The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau has admitted that the Covid-19 outbreak has held up the announcement of the exact date of the election.

If there is still a need for social distancing come September, we could be faced with two bad options. Elections could be kept as they are, forcing voters to choose between putting themselves at risk in long queues or staying at home and giving up their right to vote. Or a politically fraught decision could be made to postpone the election until after the health crisis is resolved.

Recent elections in Ohio and Wisconsin offer a cautionary tale. The day before the election, Ohio’s governor ordered a postponement, sparking a court battle that was resolved only hours before polls were scheduled to open.

But it was worse in Wisconsin, where the election proceeded as planned. The state couldn’t find volunteers to work the polls, leading to far fewer polling places, which in turn led to long queues: a clear public health hazard.

Elections chief inspector Mary Magdalen Moser runs a polling station in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in hazmat gear as the Wisconsin primary kicks off on April 7 despite the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: AFP

But it is possible to have an electoral system where voters do not have to choose between their duty and their health. Indeed, the upcoming election is a chance for Hong Kong to implement new ways of voting.

Currently, all voting in Hong Kong elections must be done in person on election day. There are no provisions for absentee voting, vote-by-mail, proxy voting or early voting.

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Implementing some form of remote voting would mean that voters no longer have to choose between social distancing and social responsibility. Fortunately, Hong Kong can easily build a remote voting system around the smart Hong Kong identity card, which stores verified biometric data.

A proven option to consider is vote-by-mail. The government already has every voter’s personal information, address and HKID number on file: it can send everyone a personalised ballot before election day. Filled-in ballots can be submitted either by mail, or in specific drop boxes around the city. In addition, opening polling stations for early voting would help spread out crowds over several days.

These systems work: many electoral systems make such provisions, with some jurisdictions (for example, the US state of Oregon) now conducting elections entirely by mail.

In addition, the opportunity to create a new electronic voting system is worth exploring. Several services in Hong Kong, such as HSBC’s payment app, already use scans of identity cards to validate accounts. An electronic voting system in Hong Kong could use similar technology to verify a voter’s identity.

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Such an e-voting system would also allow Hong Kong residents who are temporarily overseas – whether for work or for school – to vote in the Legco election without needing to return home to cast a ballot in person. A vote-by-mail system would offer the same convenience, though overseas voters may have to be aware of postage costs and voting deadlines.

Voters should still be able to vote in person if they want to: an electronic system need not be mutually exclusive with physical voting or vote-by-mail. But such a system would be a chance to create something truly novel, and turn the city into a role model in leveraging technology to improve civic participation.

Currently, Estonia is the world leader in electronic voting. Voters insert their identity card into a card reader connected to a computer and access a government website where they cast their vote. Voters can recast their ballot as many times as they wish before the voting period ends. Personally identifying information is removed upon submission.

An electronic voting system does present risks. But these problems are solvable: signatures, one-time codes, fingerprint or facial recognition on smartphones, and paper receipts can all improve election security.

Establishing a remote voting system, whether it is the tried-and-true vote-by-mail or an innovative system via smartphones and the internet, would remedy an operational weakness in Hong Kong’s electoral system that has been exposed by the pandemic. It would also bring a rare reform moment in Hong Kong when everyone wins.

There’s still time before polling stations open in September: enough time to ensure that voters don’t have to physically go to them to do their civic duty.

Nicholas Gordon is a researcher working for the Global Institute for Tomorrow, a Hong Kong-based think tank

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