E-registration in store for future elections, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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E-registration in store for future elections

This article is more than 12 months old

In future elections, voters could get to register electronically - instead of via pen-and-paper - on Polling Day.

Currently, election officials manually search for and strike off a voter's name on a printed copy of the polling station register.

The e-registration plan was unveiled yesterday at a public service exhibition at the Mandarin Orchard hotel.

The Elections Department (ELD) said it will pilot a system that will scan the barcode on a voter's identity card.

This will shorten the waiting time for voters at polling stations and halve the number of election officials needed, it said.

Voting will still be done by marking paper ballots with a pen.The proposed move was one of several projects on display at the one-day exhibition yesterday, which shares innovative ideas among public officers.

To ensure the e-registration system is secure from cyber attacks, laptops used will not be connected to the Internet, said the ELD.

To assure voters their vote remains a secret, polling stations' layout will be changed to separate the registration of voters and the issuing of ballot papers.

Asked if e-registration will be rolled out at the presidential election in September, the ELD said it "plans to pilot e-registration at a future election to test out the procedure and gather feedback".

electionNATIONAL REGISTRATION IDENTITY CARD (NRIC)polls