REO hosts training sessions for electoral staff of 2021 Legislative Council General Election (with photos)

The 2021 Legislative Council General Election (LCGE) will be held on December 19. The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) arranged in the past two weeks training and practice sessions with simulated scenarios for staff who will work in polling, counting and central counting stations. The training sessions aim to get them familiarised with details of the workflow and arrangements so that the election can be conducted smoothly.

The REO will set up over 620 ordinary polling stations across the territory, which has been divided into 10 geographical constituencies, to serve more than 4.47 million electors. After the close of the poll, the ordinary polling stations (except for the Election Committee Constituency (ECC) polling station and the small polling stations at which less than 500 electors are assigned to vote) will be changed to counting stations for the counting of geographical constituencies votes. The ballot boxes of all functional constituencies and the ECC will be delivered to the central counting station at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for counting.

On the polling day, more than 38 000 civil servants from different bureaux/departments will discharge electoral duties at different posts. "In the past few days, the REO held numerous training sessions to brief the staff on polling and counting procedures. Also, to enhance staff efficiency 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, training and practice sessions with simulated scenarios were arranged. The sessions covered the set-up of polling stations and their preparation work, contingency measures for the Electronic Poll Register system, procedures for converting a polling station to a counting station, immediate actions to take after the close of polls, and points to note for sorting and counting of votes," a spokesman for the REO said today (November 26).

The REO will continue to arrange training sessions for staff working in polling, counting and central counting stations to ensure a smooth workflow, accuracy and efficiency; enhance their co-ordination and response capabilities; and make comprehensive preparations for the LCGE.