Hong Kong minister slams Registration and Electoral Office’s handling of missing 2016 voter registry as ‘unacceptable’
- Office still searching for personal data of about 8,000 voters
- Lawmaker leads protest at election body’s headquarters
It was unacceptable for Hong Kong electoral officers to have kept residents and officials in the dark for over two years about a lost register containing the personal data of about 8,000 voters, the city’s constitutional affairs minister said on Saturday.
Patrick Nip Tak-kuen spoke a day after the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) said it was “conducting a thorough search” for a register of electors used at a polling station in Tsing Yi during the 2016 Legislative Council election, following media reports that the item had been lost.
Nip said both he and the chief electoral officer who headed the REO had only recently learned of the incident.
“It shows that there are problems with the REO’s administration,” Nip said, adding that the office’s handling of the matter was “definitely unacceptable”.
“In the past two years, the register has not been found and there has not been any announcement – this must be problematic,” Nip said.
The REO is a government department that executes the decisions of the Electoral Affairs Commission, an independent statutory body. It handles matters such as voter registration and the organisation of local polls.
The minister said the government’s top priority was to get the REO to confirm the register was lost.
“If human error was involved, or there’s been a cover up, we will handle it in accordance with the disciplinary protocol,” Nip said, adding it was too early to say if misconduct was involved.
The REO had been asked to submit a report and review its administration and staff training, as well as mitigate the incident’s negative consequences, he said.
How can we be confident in giving our information to the REO if it keeps losing stuff?
Nip said he hoped the incident would not affect voters’ confidence in the REO.
“I’m sorry if any of the affected citizens feel troubled,” he said.
By law, the REO has to retain all poll-related documents for six months after an election. These are then destroyed unless there is a court order relating to an election petition or criminal proceedings.
The voter registers for the 2016 poll had been retained because law enforcement agencies were investigating a legal case related to the election, the REO said earlier.
The lost registry was used at a polling station at SKH Ho Chak Wan Primary School in Tsing Yi during Legco’s general election in September 2016.
It contained the personal information of about 8,000 voters assigned to the polling station, including their names, addresses and identity card numbers.
Registration and Electoral Office still looking for missing document
The document also showed whether a voter had cast a ballot in the 2016 poll, as polling station officials would cross out the names of those who turned up.
The structure of REO came under the spotlight on Saturday after Nip pointed to its administrative problems.
The REO has four branches under the elections division, according to the government directory. Each branch is led by a deputy chief electoral officer whose responsibilities include setting up polling stations and allocating voters to respective polling stations.
On the election days, civil servants from various government departments act as officers at polling stations. To be a poll officers, the government workers file an application with the REO.
Meanwhile, pro-establishment camp lawmaker Alice Mak Mei-kuen, of the Federation of Trade Unions, led a dozen people in a protest on Saturday against the REO at its office in Wan Chai.
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Mak, elected from the constituency where the polling station was located, described the REO as a “black hole”.
“How can we be confident in giving our information to the REO if it keeps losing stuff?” Mak said.
She was referring to another incident in March 2017 when the REO lost a laptop containing the personal information of 3.78 million voters at AsiaWorld-Expo, which was a backup venue for the chief executive election.
The lawmaker called on officials to explain the incident at a Legco constitutional affairs panel meeting on April 15.
A 77-year-old voter surnamed Lo was assigned to the polling station in question. She said she feared that her personal information would be used in a malicious way.
“When I get a call now, I only pick up if it is from someone I know,” Lo said.
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Another voter, surnamed Tong, said she was displeased that the government never informed them of the incident.
After the 2017 loss, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data issued an enforcement notice urging the REO to prevent similar incidents.
According to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, failing to adhere to an enforcement notice could lead to a fine of up to HK$50,000 (US$6,370) and a prison term of up to two years on the first conviction.
Ivan Choy Chi-keung, a political commentator and Chinese University senior lecturer, said it was too early to determine whether voters would be discouraged from voting because of the recent incidents.
“It will depend on how authorities explain and remedy the situation,” Choy said.
Dr Chung Kim-wah, an assistant professor at Polytechnic University, said he did not expect the episode to have much impact on voter behaviour in future elections.
“The fact that the government can bar people from running in elections has had more impact,” Chung said.
He was referring to 10 pro-democracy politicians who were disqualified from participating in 2016 polls over concerns about separatism.
