2008-01-12: 立委選舉 at the voting booth

In Taichung, I noticed the infamous Ma-quotation (left) blended in seamlessly with other 中央選舉委員會 flyers. It says that 公投是人民的權利﹐可以放棄. It went so far as to say that a voter can choose not to accept any ballots at all - so idiotic it makes you wonder why a person would take the trouble of standing in line to wait for his term; but when his term comes, he says: I do not want to vote.

I told policemen outside the booths that these are not 中選舉會 flyers, that they could unfairly affect the election and should be taken down right away. They refused.

I saw two cases of angry protests both involving senior citizens. They claimed that they were purposely not given 公投票. Of course, after they stepped out of the booth it was too late. Some obvious inferences:

1. This will happen elsewhere
2. It might continue to happen in the same voting booth throughtout the day
3. The biggest loser of this practice is Taiwanese people; the winner is KMT. Can you imagine that someone refuses 公投票, but is forced to accept them?