Hong Kong – 2023 District Council Ordinary Election – registration arrangements for voting at Near Boundary Polling Stations begin tomorrow

     The 2023 District Council Ordinary Election will be held on December 10. To facilitate the electors living in the Mainland or those who need to travel to and from the Mainland on the polling day to cast their votes, the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) will set up four Near Boundary Polling Stations (NBPSs) at two schools near Sheung Shui MTR Station (namely Hong Kong Taoist Association Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Kap Yan Directors’ College). Electors of the 44 District Council geographical constituencies (DCGCs) can register to vote at the NBPSs through the online registration system (www.reo-form.gov.hk/nbps.htm) starting from 9am tomorrow (November 20) until 6pm on December 5. Late registrations will not be processed.
 
     A spokesman for the REO said today (November 19), “The arrangement is only applicable to DCGC electors. District Committees constituency (DCC) electors must cast their votes at the 18 DCC polling stations across the territory. DCC electors in the Mainland should plan their return trips to Hong Kong as early as possible so that they can cast their votes on the polling day.”
 
     When registering, electors are required to provide their names in both Chinese and English, Hong Kong identity card (HKID) number, email address and contact telephone number which can receive SMS in Hong Kong or the Mainland. Electors are also required to choose to vote at a specified timeslot to complete the registration.
 
     After submitting the registration application, the REO will send a notification of registration result to the electors concerned via SMS and email instantly to confirm whether they have successfully registered to vote at NBPSs. Only upon receipt of the notification of registration result confirming their successful registration, electors can cast their votes at the relevant polling stations. In case the phone number or/and email address provided by the electors during registration is/are different from the electors’ particulars maintained by the REO, the REO will also inform them of their successful registration to vote at the NBPSs via the phone number or/and email address kept in the REO’s records to prevent fraudulent registration.
 
     In case registrants have to change their itineraries on the polling day, they can simply cancel the registration and change back to their originally allocated polling stations for casting their votes through the online registration system during the registration period. However, if the registration period has already expired when the change of itinerary is made, the electors concerned may contact the REO at 2891 1001 to make appropriate arrangements.
 
     On the polling day, registered electors are required to bring the original copy of their HKID cards to vote at the allocated NBPSs at the specified timeslot. DCGC electors of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon need to vote at Hong Kong Taoist Association Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School while DCGC electors of the New Territories need to vote at Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Kap Yan Directors’ College. Electors may choose to walk for five to six minutes from Sheung Shui MTR Station to the NBPSs. The REO will also arrange shuttle bus to carry electors to and from Sheung Shui MTR Station and the NBPSs. Please refer to the election website (www.elections.gov.hk/dc2023/pdf/Annex1_Shuttle_Eng.pdf) for the location of pick-up and drop off points.
 
     The spokesman said, “To ensure the smooth and orderly implementation of the arrangement, a preregistration system is adopted with a quota limit. The maximum number of the registration quota for the NBPSs is 38 000 which will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.”
 
     If a registrant would like to ascertain whether he/she is a registered elector, he/she may log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System (www.vr.gov.hk) or call the election hotline (2891 1001) for checking. For details of the NBPS arrangement, members of the public can visit the dedicated election website (www.elections.gov.hk/dc2023/eng/nbps.html). They can also email to reoenq@reo.gov.hk or call the election hotline (2891 1001) for enquiries. The hotline operates from 8.45am to 6pm from Monday to Friday.