Voter registration: all-out approach to HK households
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All households in Hong Kong, totalling two million, will shortly receive individual appeal letters from the Government urging them to register as electors or to update their address records in order to vote in the Legislative Council election in September this year.
A spokesman for the Constitutional Affairs Bureau said today (March 24) that these appeal letters would serve three purposes, that is, all households would receive the message; all eligible persons would be encouraged to register as electors; and all registered electors who have changed addresses would be reminded to update their addresses.
The new initiative forms part of the programme of the 2004 Voter Registration Campaign to be held from April 3 to May 16. The objectives of the campaign are to encourage eligible persons from all walks of life and age groups to register as electors, and to remind registered electors who have changed addresses to update their records.
The spokesman said: "We will adopt a multi-pronged and cost effective approach to achieve a better outcome." A provision of $15 million has been reserved for the campaign, of which $3 million will be used for sending individual appeal letters to all households.
In addition, household visits to new residential areas will be conducted so as to assist eligible persons to register.
It is estimated that about 1.6 million eligible electors for the Geographical and Functional Constituencies have not yet registered.
"Different political parties and other organizations have already obtained 400,000 application forms for voter registration from the Registration and Electoral Office (REO)," he said.
"However, the Administration will continue to make great efforts to promote voter registration. We hope that with the joint efforts of the Administration and different sectors, the upcoming campaign will achieve a good result," he added.
Eligible persons who want to register as electors could return the completed forms to the REO. Forms could be obtained from the 18 District Offices, all estate management offices, Post Offices and the REO. They could also be downloaded from the voter registration website (www.voterregistration.gov.hk). Persons with e-certificates could register directly on the Electronic Services Delivery (ESD) website.
The spokesman added that during the campaign period, a range of promotional activities would be held to enhance public awareness on voter registration. These include television and radio Announcements of Public Interest, advertisements in public transport, plus banners and buntings in popular locations.
Ends/Wednesday, March 24, 2004
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