Streamline procedures, improve in 'areas of incompetence' for coming Hong Kong polls, election watchdog says

Hong Kong's election watchdog has urged the government to streamline procedures, deploy experienced staff and improve in "areas of incompetence", as it completed its investigation into the vote count delay of a recent major poll. The Election Committee race on September 19, the first poll under a Beijing-decreed overhaul of the political system, had been closely watched by the local and central governments. But electoral officials had made mistakes in the delivery of documents, spending much time cross-checking ballots and tackling paper jams in vote-counting machines, leading to a 14-hour wait for the results. Releasing an investigation report on polling…