8 of 10 new polling stations for Hong Kong civil servants in police facilities

Eight out of 10 newly introduced designated polling stations for civil servants in the coming Hong Kong Legislative Council election will be set up inside police facilities. A list of four new types of designated polling stations was gazetted on Wednesday, with 10 such stations set up specifically for civil servants. Of these, eight will be located in police stations or facilities, including the police headquarters in Wan Chai, the auxiliary police headquarters in Kowloon Bay, and the Police Sports and Recreation Club in Mong Kok. The remaining two will be at Shek Pik Prison and Hei Ling Chau Correctional Institution. Police and the Correctional Services Department together have more than 37,000 officers, accounting for about 20 per cent of all civil servants. None of the polling stations are located at government office buildings or Fire Services Department facilities, the second-largest department in terms of the number of employees. In a response to a Post inquiry about setting up most polling stations inside police facilities, the Registration and Electoral Office said authorities had taken into account venue requirements and civil servants’ actual needs to help disciplined services personnel and other public servants on duty to vote. Authorities earlier announced four new types of polling stations to facilitate voting by civil servants, medical workers, people from ethnic minority groups, the elderly and disabled residents in the December 7 poll, which falls on a Sunday. The government said that the stations were to enable public servants who were not allowed to leave their posts for too long to cast their ballots. Another seven polling stations will be set up near seven major public hospitals – including Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, and Tuen Mun Hospital – to help medical workers cast their ballots. Two polling stations will be set up at Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School in Wan Chai and Kowloon Park Sports Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui for voters attending religious activities at the Khalsa Diwan and the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre. Three special outreach polling stations will also be set up as part of a pilot scheme at Kwu Tung North Multi-welfare Services Complex, Yan Chai Hospital Chinachem Care and Attention Home in Kwai Chung, and TWGHs Jockey Club Sunshine Complex for the Elderly in Wong Chuk Hang. They will serve a total of 11 care homes for the elderly and four centres for the disabled, which are situated within the premises, allowing residents and staff to vote between 8.30am and 6.30pm. The operating hours for the 19 designated polling stations for civil servants, medical workers and residents from ethnic minority groups will be 8.30am to 9.30pm – three hours shorter than at other polling stations for the public, which will run from 7.30am to 11.30pm. Eligible electors must register in advance with the relevant bureaus and departments. Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Justice David Lok Kai-hong previously said that the designated stations were designed to help those working on election day who might be unable to reach their polling stations in time or were delayed by technical difficulties. The government will also again set up polling stations near the border, a measure first rolled out in the 2023 district council election. Two will be set up in Sheung Shui, and one each at the airport and the checkpoint at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Voters will need to register online before December 2 to use these stations, as they involve changes to their originally allocated ones. The government has gone all out to boost turnout after the previous Legco poll drew a low participation rate of 30.2 per cent. Meanwhile, at a government-run election forum for the social welfare functional constituency, three candidates were asked about their plans to foster youth development. Candidate Grace Chan Man-yee, chief executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a statutory body representing the city’s social welfare organisations, proposed appointing a coordinator at every school to enhance mental health support for students. Chu Lai-ling of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong said that the sector should provide more opportunities for young people to go abroad and greater support for artificial intelligence-related learning. Professor Fong Fu-fai, head of Shue Yan University’s department of social work, called on the government to halt funding cuts to the industry and pledged to speak up for small-scale organisations. Earlier this year, authorities announced a 7 per cent funding cut for big social welfare organisations by 2027-28, and a 3 per cent cut for small and medium-sized groups, amid the government’s financial woes. Residents will vote for 20 lawmakers across the 10 geographical constituencies. Thirty lawmakers in the functional constituencies and 40 in the Election Committee constituency will be chosen by small groups of voters within their respective sectors. Click here for the full list of Legco election candidates.

8 of 10 new polling stations for Hong Kong civil servants in police facilities

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Remaining two will be at Shek Pin Prison and Hei Ling Chau Correctional Institution, as government gazettes list of four new types of polling stations

Remaining two will be at Shek Pin Prison and Hei Ling Chau Correctional Institution, as government gazettes list of four new types of polling stations