Early Voting Possible without Tickets: Election Authorities

Tokyo, Jan. 27 (Jiji Press)–Election authorities across Japan are informing the public that they can cast early votes for the Feb. 8 general election even if their entry tickets to polling stations are yet to be delivered. Many local election boards were unable to send out the tickets by Tuesday, when the official campaign period for the House of Representatives election began, because Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the Lower House only last Friday for the snap election. The election board of the western city of Takamatsu expects entry tickets to be delivered to each household by Feb. 4. Through social media and its website, the board is notifying voters that they can vote without their tickets, but plans to require them to present their identification cards. The city of Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, has decided to use express mail services to deliver entry tickets. This is expected to cost the city an additional 7.5 million yen. Masahito Tadano, a professor at Hitotsubashi University who is familiar with election systems, said that allowing citizens to vote without tickets is “acceptable under the current circumstances,” but called for implementing minimum identification procedures. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]