REO hosts training sessions for electoral staff of 2023 District Council Ordinary Election (with photos)

     The 2023 District Council Ordinary Election (DCOE) will be held on December 10. The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) has arranged in the past two weeks a number of briefings, training and practice sessions with simulated scenarios for polling-cum-counting electoral staff. The training sessions aim to get them familiarised with the operation and details of the polling-cum-counting stations, with a view to ensuring that both the polling and counting process in the election can be conducted smoothly.

     On the polling day, more than 30 000 civil servants from different bureaux/departments will discharge various electoral duties at over 600 ordinary polling stations and 18 District Committees constituency (DCC) polling stations to serve more than 4.33 million electors. The District Council geographical constituencies (DCGCs) will continue to adopt the polling-cum-counting arrangements and the counting of votes will be conducted after the close of polls at the same polling station, except for small polling stations and dedicated polling stations. The DCCs will also adopt the polling-cum-counting arrangements but the counting of votes will commence only after the close of polls for the DCGCs.

     A spokesman for the REO said today (November 30), "The REO has been holding a number of training sessions to brief the staff on polling and counting procedures for days. Training and practice sessions with simulated scenarios have been arranged to cover the set-up of polling stations and the preparation work, procedures for issuing ballot papers by using the Electronic Poll Register system, procedures for converting a polling station to a counting station, manual counting of votes for DCGCs, computer-assisted counting arrangements for the DCCs and classification of questionable ballot papers. This is to enhance staff members' capability in handling matters in relation to queuing, issuing ballot papers, polling, counting of votes and complaints, as well as their response in the event of contingencies in an efficient and user-friendly manner on the polling day."

     The REO will continue to arrange a series of training sessions for electoral staff with a view to familiarising them with the workflow and enhancing their efficiency, co-ordination and response capabilities, so that they can make adequate and comprehensive preparations for the DCOE.