An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend an official polling station and absentee voting is fully or partly in practice in practically every democracy of the world except Taiwan.
Attempts have been made in vain for a long time to make it possible for our voters unable or unwilling to go to the polls to cast their ballots wherever they choose. Taiwan can't have an absentee ballot system due solely to the passionate and sometimes bitter remonstrance by two political parties bent on outpolling each other. Prior to 2000, the Kuomintang government opposed absentee voting, which was demanded by the newly created Democratic Progressive Party, whose supporters overseas, most of them resident in the United States, far outnumbered those of the ruling party. The situation changed after Taiwan businesses started relocation to China after the Democratic Progressive Party came into power. President Chen Shui-bian's administration did not want the Legislative Yuan to adopt any act that would enable voters to vote in absentia. Now that Jiang Yi-hua, minister of the interior, has gone on the record by stating absentee voting should take place in the presidential election of 2012, the opposition is up in arms again against President Ma Ying-jeou, condemning him for an instant gerrymandering to get re-elected.
Opposition leaders are convinced that Ma would easily win a second term, if Kuomintang supporters who are now forbidden to cast absentee ballots are allowed to do so, come election day less than two years from now. In the face of the opposition, the administration has backed down a bit, conceding that no absentee voting would be possible for Taiwan businessmen in China and their dependents in 2012. But that concession hasn't mollified the opposition party that is doing everything within its power to claw back to power. Its leaders are offering every imaginable reason that the country shouldn't start letting its people to vote in absentia, but their one and only purpose is to get Ma defeated by their standard bearer. That's why they insist that the current voting system has to be preserved until after the next presidential election.
But there is no excuse whatsoever for delaying the establishment of an absentee balloting system. For one thing, it has been delayed for too long. But even more harmful to the rule of law is that it is unconstitutional to deny the people the right of absentee voting. The Constitution gives the people “the right to election, recall, initiative and referendum.” As a matter of fact, the Council of Grand Justices should be asked to rule that it is unconditional to continue to require all eligible voters to vote in places of their abode in Taiwan. We have to join, though belatedly, the rank of democracies around the world to let every eligible voter vote regardless of where he or she resides.
Let's briefly review how absentee voting is practiced abroad. One of the most popular methods is by postal voting. In the United Kingdom, where modern parliamentary democracy has evolved, postal votes are available on demand — no reason needs to be given. So it is in Germany. In Israel, absentee ballots are restricted to soldiers, prisoners, sailors, overseas diplomats, disabled persons and hospitalized people. As provided by the Overseas Absentee Voting Act, our close neighbor, the Philippines, allows overseas Filipino workers or other migrants to cast absentee ballots. Even India allows people on polling duty and serving in armed forces to vote in absentia through postal means. The Republic of Ireland allows postal votes to voters who cannot vote by reason of their occupation as well as students living away from home, people with disabilities, prisoners and long-term residents of hospitals, nursing homes and other similar institutions. In the United States, an absentee ballot is a ballot that the voter records and casts other than at a designated polling station; and typically, these ballots are mailed.
Taiwan shouldn't be behind these countries in the democratic practice of absentee voting. And, more importantly, all our voters residing abroad have to be enabled to cast their absentee ballots in the next presidential and legislative elections.
〈本文僅供參考，不代表本會立場〉
（本文刊載於99.10.06，The China Post 4版）
張孟湧
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2012年2月23日 11:54
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