A spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) said today (August 22) that the REO found that its computer system had encountered technical problems several times between June 14 and July 2 this year. As such, 346 voter registration applications submitted via the "Registration and Electoral Office Online Upload Platform" (the online upload platform) were not saved to the REO's database server and could not be processed.Voter registration application forms may be submitted to the REO by various ways including post, fax, email ( [email protected] ) and the online upload platform ( www.reo-form.gov.hk ). There are 385 956 newly registered electors in the 2019 provisional registers of electors, representing a significant increase over previous records.From June 14 to July 2 this year, about 60 000 people had submitted their voter registration applications through the online upload platform, resulting in a large increase in the utilisation rate when compared with that in regular days. The online upload platform had encountered technical problems several times during the period, and some of the electronic files of the voter registration applications could not be saved to the REO's database server. Such applications therefore could not be processed for inclusion in the 2019 provisional registers of electors.The REO computer system did not collect any personal data (including IP addresses) of applicants who uploaded their forms via the online upload platform. The REO can only trace back the reference number of the applications and the time of submission to the system. The 346 cases involved in this incident were submitted from June 14 to July 2. The relevant reference numbers start with the letter "R" and contain 16 characters. Applicants who had uploaded the application form for voter registration through the online upload platform during that period of time, please log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System ( www.voterinfo.gov.hk ) to check their latest registered particulars as soon as possible.The REO apologises to the affected applicants for this incident, and calls on them to urgently contact the REO on or before August 25 (hotline: 2891 1001; e-mail: [email protected] ). If the affected applicants meet the registration requirements as electors, and can provide the relevant reference number by August 25, the REO will assist them to seek the ruling of the Revising Officer according to the legislation to include their particulars in the 2019 final registers of electors, so that they may vote in the District Council Ordinary Election to be held in November.The statutory deadline for lodging a claim or objection is August 25. The REO offices, located at 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, and 13/F, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, 1 Trademark Drive, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, operate from 9am to 12.30pm and from 1.30pm to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays. Since August 24 and August 25 are Saturday and Sunday respectively, special arrangement will be made by the REO. The two offices will be open from 9am to 6pm these two days to receive notices for claims and objections.

Ends/Thursday, August 22, 2019

Issued at HKT 17:33

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