Four EC Members To Vote From Penny's Bay: EAC

The head of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), Barnabas Fung, said on Saturday that four Election Committee members have registered to cast their ballots from a special booth at the Penny's Bay quarantine facility for Sunday's Chief Executive poll.

Nearly 1,500 committee members will decide whether to endorse the sole candidate, John Lee.

Voting in Penny's Bay will start at 9am and last for an hour and a half – an hour shorter than the main voting station at the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Fung said if the voters are found to have a fever, they will still be allowed to vote in Wan Chai.

"If someone is detected to have a high temperature, they'll be asked to use a special passage to access the special polling booth separate from the bulk of the other Election Committee members," he told reporters after a final inspection of the polling venue in Wan Chai.

The EAC chief stressed that voters are not subject to the government's vaccine pass nor are they required to use the LeaveHomeSafe app, even though they're recommended to use it.

But everyone else entering the convention centre, including members of the public and the press, are subject to both measures to minimise infection risks.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Carrie Lam has advised election officials to be familiar with the election proceedings, to ensure the poll is conducted in a smooth manner.

During an inspection of the voting site, she called on them to be "fully committed to making this a historic election for Hong Kong", saying this is going to be the third important poll since Beijing improved the SAR's electoral system.

Separately, police say they'll conduct random, high-profile patrols across the city on Sunday, in what they described as "counter terrorism measures to defend the SAR".

The force said on Facebook that the operations will be conducted at different MTR stations to ensure that the CE election can be conducted in a safe manner.

Earlier, sources indicated that six to seven thousand officers will be deployed on polling day.

______________________________