Today-Mar 6
Eligible Singaporeans living overseas will be able to vote by post in future elections as part of changes to the country’s election laws passed in Parliament on Monday (March 6).These amendments to the Presidential Elections Act and Parliamentary Elections Act are in line with the Elections Department’s (ELD) “continuous efforts to enhance… electoral processes and election administration”, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing as he tabled the Bills for a second reading. “These proposals will help to enhance voter accessibility, and engender greater trust and confidence in our election administration and electoral processes,” said Mr Chan, who is also Minister-in-charge of the Public Service. The Bills were passed in Parliament, although the nine Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Workers’ Party (WP) abstained from the vote to amend the Presidential Elections Act. “The Workers’ Party maintains its position on being opposed to the office of the elected president,” said WP chairman Sylvia Lim. This new option will allow those living overseas to vote even if there are travel disruptions, said Mr Chan, adding that ELD will implement “processes supported by technology” to assure the integrity and secrecy of postal voting. These include registration on ELD’s online voter services with the use of Singpass. Those who wish to vote by post will need to upload a wet-ink signature which will be used for authentication. After Nomination Day, postal voters will be able to go on ELD’s online voter services to download and print their postal ballot paper and pre-paid return envelope. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/postal-voting-overseas-singaporeans-among-changes-election-laws-passed-parliament-2123151
