ELD Explains the Long Queues During Polling Day; It Turns Out Many People Had Voted in the Morning

Exactly two months ago, Singaporeans went to the polls to cast their ballots for their preferred political party.

A total of 2,540,359 people voted, including 45,822 rejected votes.

What many folks remember, aside from that famous white cat and how a police report was made every time a politician sneezed, was the inordinately long queues leading to the polling stations.

They were so long, in fact, that voting hours were extended for the first time in the country’s history.

So, why were they so long? Well, now the Elections Department (ELD) has an answer.

ELD Explains the Long Queues During Polling Day

Safe management measures and issues with e-registration devices were among the reasons listed by the ELD on Thursday (10 Sept) as an explanation for the unusually long queues.

Following the election, the department apologised for the inconvenience caused and promised to study the matter.

Now, the department has narrowed down the four main issues which contributed to the long queues:

1. Safe Management Measures

This was the country’s first election held during a pandemic, and so it was bound to look a little different.

ELD had implemented several safe distancing measures in a bid to protect voters and curb the spread of the coronavirus.

These measures included:

• temperature taking
• hand sanitising
• requiring voters to put on disposable gloves before voting
• requiring voters to stand 1m apart

They discovered soon after voting began that the mandatory wearing of disposable gloves was significantly prolonging the time taken to vote, which is why they did away with this requirement early in the day.

However, the other precautionary measures meant that longer waiting time was unavoidable.

2. Many People Had Voted in the Morning

As you know, time bands were introduced this year to spread voters out evenly throughout the day, in a bid to reduce crowding.

However, the authorities must have forgotten that they were dealing with Singaporeans, who always join a queue the moment they see one.

So, even though time bands in the morning were designated for seniors, a third of voters who were not over the age of 65 showed up.

According to ST, the higher number of seniors in the morning also slowed down the voting process, as more of them required support and assistance from election officers.

3. Issues With e-Registration Devices

Before Covid-19 reared its ugly-ass head, the plan was to have election officers scan voters’ NRICs.

But since that would increase the chances of Covid-19 transmission, voters were asked to self-scan their NRIC.

“ELD had intended to do roadshows to familiarise voters with the e-registration device, but these had to be called off due to the Covid-19 situation”, the department said.

“As a result, voters were unfamiliar with the e-registration devices, and this process took longer than planned.”

Please don’t blame me. That damn scanner has a mind of its own.

4. Resources Not Distributed Well

Even though there were 20% more election officers deployed than in GE2015, ELD said the 25 polling stations should have been given more election officers and e-registration devices.

2.3% of the polling stations served over 4,400 voters, and 22 of the 25 experienced long queues.

In some areas where there were two polling stations, the two queues also merged into one as residents were confused.

All these factors contributed to the long queues, the department said.

In future elections, ELD said it would increase its pool of reserve manpower and equipment, and reduce the number of voters at large polling stations.

As for resisting the impulse to join queues when we see them, Singaporeans will have to work on that on their own.