I was on the Elections Department website last week to check if
I was still eligible to vote, and discovered that my name had been
expunged from the voters' register for failing to 'vote' in the
1993 general elections. Just for kicks, I applied to have my name
restored. I checked their website again this morning and confirmed
that my name was back on the register.
I just tried registering as an overseas voter and noticed that
voting can only be accomplished in person at a
designated polling station; in the US, these would be the
consulates in New York CIty, Washington, DC and San Francisco. I'll
be damned if I'm going to spend the time and money to travel from
Minnesota to any one of these cities just to cast a vote.
One wonders why the Elections Department does not
allow overseas voting by mail. Is this their way of making it as
inconvenient as possible for overseas Singaporeans, whom one might
argue are less likely to vote for the incumbents, to vote?
In any event, my name will probably get expunged again from
the register for failing to vote in the next elections.
I think the overseas voting issue is more of logistics.
