The government has shelved a plan to introduce technology that can detect invalid votes, a day after lawmakers expressed privacy concerns at a Legislative Council meeting. The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau had planned to table legal changes by March, in part to bring in smart ballot boxes for polls. At the Legco meeting on Monday, some lawmakers said they were concerned about confidentiality, warning that a voter suspected of casting an invalid vote could easily be spotted at a polling station. Officials didn't explain how the new voting process would work, how votes could remain confidential or which elections the smart boxes would be used for. A bureau spokesman said on Tuesday evening that the boxes will not be introduced after all. "After listening to the views from lawmakers and the public, the government is willing to be receptive to the views," he said, stressing that the government highly values public opinion on its governance. "The government has decided to continue to provide ballot checking devices for voters, and they can use them on a voluntary basis if that's necessary." In recent years, such checking devices have been used in the District Committee constituency in district council polls as well as Legco's Election Committee constituency.
