Voting Hours Extended To 10pm Due To Long Queues
Voting hours will now end at 10pm, instead of ending at 8pm as usual.
Elections Department Singapore (ELD) made the announcement after reports of long queues at several polling stations, even during late afternoon.
This is understandable, considering ELD’s double apology today for the long wait. At 5.30pm, this was the situation at Palm View Primary School in Sengkang, as captured by a netizen driving by.
We sure hope the queue moved fast.
Voting hours run till 10pm to give everyone enough time
According to ELD, the voting hours have been extended to allow enough time for everyone to cast their votes.
Queue situation at Hougang CC earlier today, observed by a CNA reporter
Source
This extension applies to all polling stations, and excludes those based at facilities for people serving Stay-Home Notices.
If you haven’t voted yet, you should take note of a few changes:
- Special voting hour voters can cast their votes as planned at polling stations with no queue
- Those at polling stations with long queues will have to be isolated in a separate holding area
- This area is meant to disallow voters from mixing with others
- Only after the queue is cleared, will special hour voters get to vote.
Check for queues before heading over
Even though there’s been an extension, you should still check for the queue situation at your designated polling stations here.
This Website Lets You Check Polling Station Queues So You Can Avoid Crowds
ELD encourages voters to reach their polling stations at 9pm if the queue remains long at this time.
Time for coffee if you’re staying up late
Having an election during a pandemic crisis isn’t easy. With additional safety measures to adhere to, delay is probably expected since we’re now living in a time of safe distancing.
Cheers to Singaporeans for exercising their civic duty today. If you’re planning to stay up for GE2020 results tonight, perhaps you can consider getting coffee.
It’s going to be a long, but undoubtedly exciting night ahead.
Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
