Taiwan election commission opposes 'one ballot, multiple votes' referendum proposal

Taiwan's Central Election Commission has declared strong opposition to a proposed amendment that would allow multiple votes on a single ballot for referendums. The proposal, put forth by legislators from the Blue and White parties, aims to change the current system where each referendum question receives a separate vote.

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In the case of 'one ballot, multiple votes,' voters cannot refuse to accept a specific issue, which is tantamount to forcing them to vote.

The Yunlin County Election Commission echoed this opposition, highlighting several concerns from both the voter's and the election administration's perspectives. Officials argue that the 'one ballot, multiple votes' system would effectively compel voters to accept all referendum ballots, removing their ability to abstain from specific issues. This could lead to disputes over the validity of votes, particularly if a voter invalidates one issue on the ballot but wishes to vote on others.

Furthermore, election officials anticipate significant practical challenges. While proponents suggest the change might speed up vote counting, Yunlin County Election Commission Secretary-General Chen Liang-chun believes the opposite is true. He explained that the current 'one vote, one ballot' system allows for efficient pre-sorting and counting. The proposed multi-vote ballot, however, would require election workers to repeatedly identify and distinguish between multiple referendum questions on each ballot, increasing the workload and the risk of errors.

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If only a single issue on the same ballot is marked as invalid, there are still ambiguities in the regulations regarding whether other issues will be deemed invalid, which may harm the voting effectiveness of other issues and lead to disputes over the determination of valid and invalid votes.

An additional administrative burden involves ballot preservation. Current regulations allow for the destruction of ballots after six months if no disputes arise. Under the proposed system, if even a single referendum question on a multi-vote ballot becomes subject to litigation, the entire batch of ballots would need to be sealed until the legal proceedings conclude, creating significant storage and management challenges for election authorities.

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In practice, the 'one vote, one ballot' counting can first sort and classify, then quickly announce and count votes. 'One ballot, multiple votes' cannot be sorted and organized in advance. During the count, the announcers and counters must repeatedly identify multiple issues, greatly increasing the workload and risk of errors.