Electors reminded to bring original of Hong Kong identity card to vote at Legislative Council by-election tomorrow
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     The 2018 Legislative Council By-election will be held tomorrow (March 11). The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) reminds electors to bring the original of their Hong Kong identity card to the designated polling station to vote.

     A total of 334 ordinary polling stations and a maximum of 24 dedicated polling stations will open tomorrow for about 2.1 million electors of the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, and New Territories East geographical constitutencies (GCs) and Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape (ASPL) functional constitutency (FC) listed on the 2017 Final Register to cast their votes. Among them, 319 ordinary polling stations will be set up for the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West and New Territories East GCs. Another 15 ordinary polling stations will also be set up to serve the ASPL FC electors in Kowloon East and New Territories West.

     The polling hours for the ordinary polling stations and the three dedicated polling stations set up at police stations will be from 7.30am to 10.30pm. For the dedicated polling stations set up at penal institutions, for security reasons, the polling hours will be from 9am to 4pm.

     "Electors must bring the original of their Hong Kong identity card or other specified alternative documents to the designated polling station to collect their ballot paper(s) to cast vote(s)," a spokesman for the REO said.

     "Voting is very simple. Electors must use the chop provided by the polling stations to stamp the ballot papers with a tick in the circle opposite the name of the chosen candidate. GC electors should fold the ballot paper once according to the pre-folding by polling staff to conceal the mark before putting the ballot paper into the blue ballot box. For FC electors, they should turn the ballot paper face down, without folding, and insert it into the red ballot box."
 
     Electors may only cast their vote(s) at the designated polling station as specified on their poll card. Electors of the relevant GCs or FC can log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System (OVIES) (www.voterinfo.gov.hk) if they have not yet received their poll card to check whether they are registered electors and their designated polling station. They can also call the election hotline 2891 1001 for enquiries.
 
     The spokesman reminded the public that according to the law, polling stations are restricted areas accessible only by electors and authorised persons.

     "Unauthorised persons are strictly prohibited from using mobile phones, taking photographs, filming, and making video or audio recordings in the polling stations," he said.

     Once the poll closes, most polling stations in the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West and New Territories East GCs will be converted into counting stations for the GC votes. The counting stations will be open to the public once the conversion has been completed. Members of the public will be able to watch the counting process at designated areas inside the counting stations. Ballot boxes for ASPL FC will be delivered to the Central Counting Station at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), where the counting of votes will take place.

     In addition to the Central Counting Station, there is also a media centre at the HKCEC, where the election results for all GCs and FC will be announced by the Returning Officers. A public gallery will be set up for members of the public to watch the announcement of results at the media centre. In view of the limited seating capacity, admission to the public gallery will be arranged on a first come, first served basis from 11pm tomorrow. To facilitate admission control, members of the public admitted to the venue will be required to wear a wristband provided by the REO for identification purpose.

     Enquiries about the by-election can be made to the election hotline at 2891 1001, which will operate from 7am to 11pm tomorrow.

     A complaints hotline, 2827 7251, will also be in service from 7.30am to 11pm tomorrow to handle complaints about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.

Ends/Saturday, March 10, 2018
Issued at HKT 16:00

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