The Government plans to conduct an electronic counting demonstration in some traditional functional constituencies with fewer electors in the 2020 Legislative Council General Election.

Secretary for Mainland & Constitutional Affairs Patrick Nip told legislators that the Government set this target following its consultation with the LegCo Panel on Constitutional Affairs.

He pointed out that the Government has been proactively studying ways to electronise different stages of the election throughout the years.

He stressed the Government must strike a balance among the need for using technologies, efficiency, security risks, privacy protection and public trust before introducing any arrangements.

On issuing ballot papers electronically, another aspect of poll electronisation, Mr Nip said the Registration & Electoral Office is studying the use of an electronic poll register to increase the efficiency and accuracy when issuing ballot papers.

Currently, ballot papers are issued by two electoral staff to minimise human error and ensure a fair and honest election.

As for adopting electronic voting, Mr Nip explained that the Government has looked into the experiences of overseas countries and regions and found that a number of issues were encountered.

They included the system being hacked leading to the election result being affected, disruption of voting due to malfunctioning of electronic voting devices, high cost incurred in procuring electronic voting devices, and the limited lifespan of devices that rapidly become obsolete.

Mr Nip noted that the Government considered that such problems must be properly resolved before electronic voting can be introduced as they could affect risk management, information security and cost-effectiveness.

There must also be sufficient discussion in the community in deciding whether trade-offs are to be made, he added.