Hong Kong shelves plan to use ‘smart ballot boxes’ for elections

Hong Kong authorities have shelved the introduction of “smart ballot boxes” to help electors check the validity of their voting slips in coming polls after lawmakers raised concerns about privacy and secrecy.

Lai Tung-kwok, chairman of the Legislative Council’s panel on constitutional affairs, said on Wednesday that he welcomed the decision, adding that the government had responded quickly to concerns surrounding the proposal it had shared two days earlier.

“The government made a proposal, consulted Legco, and they listened. This is a very good thing. They’re very responsive this time around, and the bureau secretary really listened,” he said.

In a reply to the Post on Wednesday, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said the initial intention of the smart ballot boxes was to help voters check that their ballots were valid to further protect their rights.

“After consulting Legco and the community, the government is willing to heed good advice and has decided to continue to use ballot paper detection machines for voluntary use by voters in the electoral arrangements later on if necessary, instead of promoting the use of smart ballot boxes,” it said.

Lai welcomed the revised plan to instead allow voters to use optical mark recognition (OMR) machines to voluntarily check their ballot papers.