Election officials prepare ballot boxes for five separate votes at the Higashi-Sumiyoshi Ward office in Osaka on Feb. 1. (Takuya Tanabe)
OSAKA—Early voting for the national review of Supreme Court judges, held concurrently with the Lower House election and several others, began on Feb. 1.
Early voting stations in Osaka saw the addition of a national review ballot box to the four others dedicated to the Lower House election’s single-seat constituency and proportional representation, the Osaka gubernatorial election and the Osaka mayoral election.
The Osaka city’s board of elections is handling the situation by increasing its staff.
At the Higashi-Sumiyoshi Ward office in the city, the ballot box for the national review was prepared just after 8 a.m. on the day. The ward’s city council by-election also meant there was a possibility of having six boxes set up, but that race ultimately went uncontested.
Even so, as many as five ballot boxes were lined up, and voters received, filled out and cast their votes one by one for the mayoral election, gubernatorial election, Lower House and other races.
The election and vote-counting day for all of them is Feb. 8, but the start dates for early voting differ: Jan. 23 for the gubernatorial election, Jan. 26 for the mayoral election and Jan. 28 for the Lower House election.
Because of this, some voters are reportedly visiting the polling station twice.
An official from the ward’s board of elections said, “We are taking special care to ensure there is no double voting.”
AloJapan.com