Central Election Commission Chairman Yu Ying-lung has publicly opposed an amendment being pushed by the opposition parties to merge referendum ballots, warning that rushing it into effect would cause serious problems for election administration.

• The Legislative Yuan could pass the amendment on its third reading as early as the 28th, allowing multiple referendum questions to be printed on a single ballot.
• The Central Election Commission has listed 11 problems, including a possible sharp rise in invalid ballots, a vote count that would exceed the capacity of frontline staff, and the lack of a solution for how visually impaired voters would cast their ballots.
• With less than 100 days to go before the November 28 election, there is simply not enough time to prepare.
• The Kuomintang argues that the practice has long been used in the United States, but the US has a full set of supporting equipment and vote-counting systems, whereas Taiwan would be importing only the multiple-questions-per-ballot format without the corresponding procedures.
• Fewer ballots does not mean fewer options, and the counting time would not be shortened either, because each question would still have to be tallied separately.

Outlook: The amendment may clear the legislature this week. If it passes, election authorities will be forced to implement a system they themselves say cannot be done, in under three months.