UPDATE: 08 01 2023: 11:47 a.m.: At 11:26 a.m., Wang shared on Facebook that she had finished voting and urged voters not to forget their ID card.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As voting for the legislator by-election began in Taipei on Sunday morning (Jan. 8), Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) was denied entry to the polling station for not bringing her National Identification Card.

SETNews reported that Wang arrived at her polling station at 9 a.m. She was accompanied by newly elected Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who had specifically traveled to her designated polling station after voting at his own.

Before entering her polling station, Wang shook hands with Chiang and told him, “Thank you, Mayor, I’ll vote now.” However, when she went inside, she reportedly stood speaking to election staff members “with an awkward look on her face” and without receiving her ballot.

UDN cited Wang as telling the press that as she had been “busy” and recently misplaced her ID card, she had entrusted it to her assistant for safekeeping but forgot to bring it when she left her home to vote. She said her husband had reminded her to use her National Health Insurance Card, and she was under the impression that it would be accepted at the polling station.

Though Wang said she will definitely vote by the deadline at 4 p.m., she had not decided when she would be able to return to the polling station as she has several events to attend during the day.

When asked about the incident as he arrived at his polling station, Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate Enoch Wu (吳怡農) responded by feeling his wallet and saying he had brought his ID card, reported Liberty Times.