Today is the polling day for the election of the third Legislative Council in Hong Kong since reunification in 1997. As in past elections, electors are expected to turn out in force to cast their votes because this is their civil right to do so.

A total of 501 polling stations are open for the more than 3.2 million electors to return 30 members to the legislature through direct polls in the five geographical constituencies, in which 88 candidates forming 35 lists are contesting.

There are six seats in Hong Kong Island, five seats in Kowloon East, four seats in Kowloon West, seven seats in New Territories East and eight seats in New Territories West. Another 60 candidates are competing for 19 seats in 17 functional constituencies. The remaining 11 out of the total of 28 functional constituencies have their candidates elected unopposed.

Voting ends at 10.30pm

Voting started as early as 7.30 this morning and quite a few people have cast their votes by now. I will do so shortly. If you plan to do it later, you'll have until 10.30 tonight to cast your vote at the polling station shown on your poll card.

As a rule of thumb, an elector is assigned to a polling station nearest to his/her registered residential address. If you do not have the poll card with you, it doesn't matter at all. Just call the election hotline 2891 1001 to enquire about where to cast your geographical constituency vote. If you are also a functional constituency elector, you can cast all your votes in one go at the same polling station.

Voting is indeed very easy. You just have to present your identity card in the polling station for a ballot paper to be issued to you. You will be given a chop to stamp a tick on the circle next to the candidate or list of candidates of your choice on the ballot paper.

You then have to fold your geographical constituency ballot paper inwards to conceal your vote and put it into the white ballot box. For functional constituency ballot papers, simply put them face down into the red ballot box.

This year, voters can identify candidates of their choice more easily because the novel looking ballot papers are more informative and user friendly. They not only have the names and numbers of candidates, but also carry their photographs as well as the names and emblems of the bodies supporting them.

As a result, the sizes of both functional constituency ballot papers and geographical constituency ballot papers have been enlarged to about the size of one and two typing papers, respectively.

By now, you would probably agree with me that voting is not at all difficult, even if you are not yet absolutely clear about how the electoral system works. Action speaks louder than words. Go to the poll now.

In the past weeks, Hong Kong was engulfed in full-blown election campaigning and there were reports on controversial issues in the media. Alleged instances of forged application forms for registration as electors have been referred to the police for investigation.

Our view is that the act of forgery is criminal, and the perpetrator must be brought to justice. In the unlikely event that a person only finds out that he has become an elector on receipt of a poll card, he should report it immediately to the Registration & Electoral Office, or the police, for investigation.

He has every right not to attend the poll if he has no intention of becoming an elector, or he can cast his vote in such a way as to shred the perpetrator's plan. The perpetrator's aim of seeking his support for a particular candidate will never be achieved.

There were also claims of electors being pressured in their voting preferences and alleged conspiracies for voters to take images of marked ballot papers with their mobile phones and transmit them to a third party.

To deter possible illegal practices, new measures are in place to ensure the secrecy of the ballot. For instance, curtains are no longer installed in front of the voting booths so that illegal conduct inside the booth, if any, will be easily discerned. But a yellow line is marked for a no-entry zone at least one metre from the voting booths so that no one can see whom the elector is voting for.

The maximum jail term for the offence of taking photographs inside a polling station and for all offences relating to the infringement of the secrecy of the vote has been increased from three to six months, while the maximum fine remains unchanged at $5,000.

Moreover, notices and staff will remind electors to switch off their phones as soon as they step into a polling station.

However, it is instructive to note that out of about 700 complaints that have been received by all the complaint-handling departments, including ours, only one compliant was about duress to cast the vote to a particular candidate.  It's really surprising that while there were a number of talks and rumours about duress, only one person reported a single case to the ICAC.

What is most important is that the secrecy of the ballot is enshrined in the Basic Law.  The individual elector's choice of candidate will never be known. The ballot paper bears no marking or serial number. The elector's vote on the ballot paper will be concealed until the ballot box is opened to count the votes after the close of poll.

The secrecy of the ballot is thus the safest bulwark against any duress or threats, alleged or otherwise, to vote for a candidate. Apart from the fact that using these illegal means is an offence under the Elections (Corrupt & Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, the vote is kept secret during the voting process, and - as protected by the same statute - no one is required to tell which candidate he has voted for, or is going to vote for.

Before closing, I would like to address one more issue resulting from negative campaigning. I call on electors not to be deterred from the polls because of the negative publicity about some candidates in the past few weeks.

Negative campaigning is commonplace and a fact of life even in well-established democracies. Electors need not be baffled and turn away from the polls just because of this. I believe in the wisdom of electors, which will lead them to make up their mind and arrive at the best choice of candidate on their own.

The three-member Electoral Affairs Commission that I chair is an independent statutory body tasked to supervise and make arrangements for the conduct for all public elections in Hong Kong.

In this connection, whether or not the alleged election-related offences are substantiated, the Commission needs to maintain public confidence in the integrity and fairness of our elections by timely and determined measures.

The electors in Hong Kong can rest assured that the Commission will continue to do whatever is required to ensure the polls are conducted in a fair, open and honest manner.

When the polls close at 10.30 tonight, most polling stations will be turned into counting stations for geographical constituency votes.

The functional constituency votes will be delivered to a Central Counting Station in the Hong Kong International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Kowloon Bay for counting.

As a member of the public, you are most welcome to witness the counting process in a designated area in any counting station and see for yourself the transparency of our electoral system.