Legislators from both the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have separately endorsed passing a law that would create an absentee voting system for Taiwan. Currently, Taiwan law requires that voters must cast their ballots at the voting stations closest to their household registration. This often requires voters to travel across the country on election day to cast their vote.
On Wednesday, a group of KMT legislators held a press conference in which they stated their intention to draft an absentee voting law for the upcoming legislative session. KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) says data from 2021 shows that more than 2 million Taiwanese voters are unable to vote easily because they are living or working far from their registered household or abroad. Wang adds that the KMT has received many reports from people in the military, police force, and medical fields who say they are unable to leave work to vote. She says that absentee voting would return voting rights to these people. Wang adds that she has noticed TPP legislators have also supported this idea, indicating that Wang is willing to work with the TPP on this issue.
The new legislature will take office on February 1, with neither of the two main parties, the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), having reached a majority of seats. That means that votes from the smaller TPP party will be necessary for either side to pass laws and elect a legislative speaker. So far, no legislative coalitions have been announced.
KMT legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) says that voter turnout for households registered in the outlying island of Kinmen is 36%, about half that of the main island. Chen says the government does not provide adequate support for citizens from the outlying islands, and that the DPP has not promoted absentee voting for political reasons.
TPP legislators including Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) held their own press conference on Wednesday, also endorsing an absentee voting law. Huang says the law will be a TPP priority in the next session. He adds that the TPP has always maintained that it will work with any party as long as it benefits the nation, and that absentee voting should not be seen as a partisan issue.
