Prohibiting COVID-19-positive voters from casting ballots in the Nov. 26 local government elections — with an estimated 300,000 facing the prospect of fines — violates legally protected political rights, Amnesty International Taiwan said Wednesday.
In October, the Central Election Commission (CEC) ruled out the possibility of joining Japan and South Korea in allowing people in COVID-19 isolation to cast absentee ballots or vote at designated polling places.
On Tuesday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) warned that people who break their mandatory quarantine to vote would face fines of up to NT$2 million (US$62,500) under the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens.
Under current rules, those who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate themselves for seven days. The CECC has planned to reduce the self-isolation period to five days starting Nov. 14.
The election commission cited Article 17 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, which states that voters must cast their ballot “at the polling station at the place of domicile unless otherwise prescribed.”
According to the agency, “unless otherwise prescribed” refers only to allowing election officials to vote at the polling station where they are working.
In the statement, Secretary General of Amnesty International Taiwan Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) said the government should not deprive an estimated 300,000 people of their right to vote using “unclear laws and regulations.”
None of the laws cited by the government have justified the decision to prohibit people who test positive for COVID-19 from exercising their voting rights, Chiu said.
In addition, the rights group said that the government’s policy breached Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity to vote and be elected in genuine and periodic elections.
The United Nations convention was adopted in Taiwan in 2009, even though the country has not been a U.N. member since 1971.
Amnesty called on the government to enact measures to ensure that people who must isolate themselves because of COVID-19 can cast their votes without facing punishment in the upcoming local government elections and referendum.
The CECC’s decision to shorten the self-isolation period from seven days to five days for people who test positive for COVID-19 was made on Nov. 2 in response to similar concerns raised earlier by lawmakers, reducing the number of people unable to vote.
CECC head Victor Wang (王必勝) said at that time the center would talk to the CEC about whether it would be possible to allow people who remain in quarantine on election day to go out for a short period of time to vote.
However, as of Wednesday neither the CECC nor the CEC had proposed any solutions to the problem.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel