| Summary: | 碩士 === 中華大學 === 行政管理學系碩士班 === 98 === Discussion of Prisoners’ Voting Rights from a Human Rights Study – in Taiwan, ROC
Abstract
According to the Constitution of the ROC, the Laws of Election and Impeachment, and criminal laws, all current prisoners, with the exception of those who are officially prohibited from making decisions with their property, have the right to vote, despite the length and severity of their sentences. Prisoners’ voting rights remain whether or not their rights to become government employees or be candidates for a government office have been taken away. However, the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Justice both have not carried out the law due to, as they claim, technical difficulties. As a result, prisoners always receive voting notifications, yet never have the opportunity to vote.
According to the studies done, if prisoners were to execute their voting rights, the following methods are viable in the existing system:
1. The first stage—voting in polls. Rewrite Registration of Inmates at Correctional institution, and have the correctional institutions made available as the inmates’ registered institutions for voting. (depending on individual decisions of the inmates; the inmates should be informed in advance how this would affect their voting rights.)
2. The second stage—absentee voting. According to the directory issued by The Ministry of Interior and the conclusion made at the public hearing, ‘transferred voting’ and ‘specially designated polling stations’ are favoured; related regulations’ are now in legislative process. After the implementation of the laws, the prisoners who are not registered voters at the prisoners would be able to apply for the ballots at the prisons and execute their voting rights.
This essay concludes that, whether voting in polls or absentee voting is adopted, specially designated polling stations should be available at the prisons for the prisoners to execute their voting rights. After the correction order issued by the Control Yuan of the ROC to the The Central Election Commission, postal voting, one form of absentee voting, has been suggested as a possible solution; however, due to the lack of mutual trust between the electoral institutions and the government, such solution is not practical. With regard to policies, suggestion has been made that the 7th article in Prison Laws should be expanded and secure the prisoners’ voting rights legislatively.
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