So what's the point of overseas voting?
London-based Singaporean Sheri Kristen Goh wrote in to the Straight Times today to voice her disappointment that overseas votes will only be counted on Wednesday, which is AFTER the election results have been announced!
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/story/0,5562,391819,00.html?
May 9, 2006
What is the point of overseas voting?
DESPITE living in Britain while studying for a postgraduate degree, I wanted to be involved in the general election. I went through the trouble of signing up as an overseas voter and went to cast my vote at the Singapore High Commission in London on Friday.
However, I was chagrined to discover, after reading the news online, that overseas votes will be counted only on Wednesday.
This is after all the votes in Singapore have been counted, results have been tabulated, and the winners have been announced. Yet my vote languishes in a box somewhere, yet to be considered.
What is the point, then, of overseas voting? While 550 overseas voters may be considered a drop in the bucket of 1.22 million eligible voters, every vote counts, as it should. Logistical arrangements for eligible voters applying for overseas voting, the paperwork generated, opening up the high commissions, embassies and consulates in eight overseas locations, then shipping the votes back to Singapore to be counted, all these appear to be purposeless if overseas votes are not considered at the same time, and of the same importance, as local votes.
Could the Elections Department please comment?
Sheri Kristen Goh Kwee Hwa (Ms)
London, Britain
A report on the clarification issued by the Elections Department soon followed on Channel News Asia:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/207417/1/.html
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 09 May 2006 1825 hrs
Elections Department says overseas voters do matter
By Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia
Responding to queries on overseas voting, the Elections Department reiterated that overseas voters do matter even though this time, the overseas votes are counted after the results are out.
The Department said if local votes for a particular electoral division had been inconclusive, then the announcement of the result would have been deferred till overseas votes are counted.
But in this election, the winning margin based on the local votes counted was clearly higher than the total overseas votes for every constituency so there was no need to delay the declaration of results.
Overseas votes will still be counted and added to the local votes - and the total number will then be published in the Government Gazette later. - CNA/ch
CNA devoted a whopping total of FOUR miserable paragraphs to gloss over what should be a matter of grave concern for any democratic system! It doesn't matter if overseas voters constitute only a minute statistical proportion of voters. This whole thing is a matter of PRINCIPLE! So I hope for its own credibility's sake that our good ol' Straight Times will give the issue a good and thorough airing tomorrow.
The sins of undercoverage and omission are today's equivalent of a news blackout.
But somehow, I think this news has made me less sore that I was disqualified as an overseas voter simply because I've lived too long overseas. They just told me my vote matters, but not enough.
***ADDENDUM
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/story/0,5562,392032,00.html?
May 10, 2006
Take heart: Overseas votes do matter
I REFER to Ms Sheri Kristen Goh Kwee Hwa's letter on overseas voting ('What is the point of overseas voting?'; ST, May 9). Although this time the overseas votes are to be counted after the results have already been announced, overseas votes certainly do matter. If local votes counted for a particular electoral division had been inconclusive because the votes of registered overseas electors may affect the result, the announcement of the result would have been deferred until the day when the overseas votes are counted.
For example, if the difference in votes between the winning and losing candidates in a constituency was, say, 500, and the total of overseas electors for that constituency was 500 or more, the result would have been inconclusive, and announcement would have had to await the overseas vote-count.
In this general election, the winning margin, based on the local votes counted, was clearly higher than the total overseas votes for every constituency. Hence, it serves no purpose to delay the declaration of winning candidates/groups of candidates.
However, overseas votes will still be counted, and added to the local votes and subsequently published in the Government Gazette.
The Elections Department thanks Ms Goh and all other overseas voters for discharging their civic responsibility to vote despite being overseas, and encourages all eligible overseas Singaporeans who would otherwise miss the chance to vote, to do so in future elections.
Emilyn Yah (Ms)
Manager (Public Education and Training)
Elections Department