Chiayi City Service Station of the National Immigration Agency brings new immigrants to experience the referendum, French artist experience Taiwanese democracy

The Chiayi City Service Station of the Southern District Affairs Brigade of the National Immigration Agency (NIA, 移民署), together with the Chiayi City Election Commission (嘉義市選舉委員會) and Chiayi Municipal Shiuan Shin Elementary School (嘉義市宣信國民小學), jointly organized the "New Immigrants Simulation of the Voting  Experience" (新住民模擬投票體驗) at Shiuan Shin Elementary School, allowing new immigrants to actually line up to vote and learn about voting and circle selection method to promote the integration of new immigrants into Taiwan’s civil society.

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The new residents actually lined up to vote, simulating the referendum for December 18. (Photo/Provided by Chiayi City Service Station)

First, the Chiayi City Election Commission explained to the new immigrants of the voting method in Taiwan and introduced how to use the circle selection tool to vote and conduct an actual simulated voting. The referendum will be held at the end of the year and those who are eligible to vote should be 18 years of age or older and must have lived in the municipalities, counties, and cities for more than 6 months, have not been declared under prison guardianship, and has household registration before February 28, 2021.

A new immigrant artist from France, Chifons, has lived in Chiayi for 12 years. Although he has not obtained a Taiwan citizenship, he praised the Taiwan democratic referendum. He believes that listening to the public’s opinions is a remaining value of the government. In addition, Nguyen Ching Chu (阮青竹), a new Vietnamese immigrant, said that she has participated in Taiwan's elections since she has been married 23 years ago and he is looking forward to the referendum at the end of this year. She is happy to be able to cast her one vote for the future of Taiwan.

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Nguyen Ching Chu (left), a new Vietnamese immigrant, has participated in the elections in Taiwan and served as an interpreter to help the new Vietnamese immigrants understand how to vote. (Photo/Provided by Chiayi City Service Station)

Huang Yen Hsun (黃艷薰), director of the Chiayi City Service Station, said that the national referendum was originally scheduled to be held on August 28, 2021. Due to the impact of the epidemic, it will be held on December 18, 2021, from 8:00 to 16:00.

In addition, the public is also specially reminded that the binding of the quintuple stimulus vouchers will start on September 22. Foreigners with valid residency permits, such as spouses from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and foreigners with permanent residence permits are all eligible to receive the vouchers. For those who have not yet received their health insurance cards, they can bring their residence permits to the post office to claim the quintuple stimulus vouchers in paper form. The NIA provides a hotline for explanations in 7 languages. If there are questions, please call the hotline 0800-024-111 or the Ministry of Economic Affairs Stimulus Vouchers hotline 1988 for assistance.

The new immigrants successfully completed the mock referendum. (Photo/Provided by Chiayi City Service Station)