In the midst of the combat, there is a group of people who can be said to "labor painfully and gain high merits." but who never earn fame. Who are they?

"It's like being a midwife. It doesn't matter if the baby is a boy or a girl, as long as the delivery is easy and the baby is healthy," says a veteran election official.

How does a person get to be an election official?

Taipei City Election Commission Vice-Director Lin Tsan-mu indicates that before 1980, the election bodies were made up of public servants and disbanded after the elections. In 1980, cities and counties established permanent election commissions, leaving the central commission to deal with legislative matters. Ordinarily one group has 10-plus members.

"Usually we undertake studies on how the elections can be run more smoothly, and also bring together the election data and publish it," notes Secretary Lin Wen-wei, who has more than ten years' election experience.

But at election times there are so many things to do--registering candidates, printing election posters, making up name lists, helping with the voting. . . . How can a small commission deal with all that?

Vice-Director Lin notes that because election duties and the duties of civil affairs are quite close, the Department of Civil Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior assists the Central Election Commission, and the Department of Civil Affairs of the Taiwan Province Government assists the various county and city commissions. The Taipei City Civil Affairs Department is naturally the partner of the Taipei City Election Commission.

Even this way it seems the manpower is inadequate. Therefore civil servants from the departments of social affairs, police, and schools will also be recruited. In a broad manner of speaking, they're all election officials.

"Running the election is work requiring a transcendent posture. Any error will affect the interests of the voters or candidates. The demand for fair, zero-defect elections creates tremendous pressure for us," says Secretary Lin, half-gray at forty.

Take for instance making up the posters. Chang Chih-kuan of the Civil Affairs Office of Hsintien City recalls that once in making up a poster the candidate's picture had some black spots. The candidate was furious.

"It's lucky for me she won. Otherwise I'd certainly have been in court."

Everything must be done precisely and on time. There must be absolutely no flexibility. "You can't open the ballots early, you can't print them late. . . . It's stricter than any ordinary administration," says Hsu Ming-yi, a group director of the Taipei County Election Commission. You have to be even more careful dealing with people. "You don't even dare accept a cigarette from someone." Now you can understand why they feel like walking on thin ice.

"Political expression meetings" (rallies), especially those run by the candidates themselves (as opposed to those run by the election commission for all candidates to attend), are the central dramas in the election. People only pay attention to the candidates--very few will think that the bustling occasions will make some other people "unhappy."

The first kind of person is the officer arranging the meetings. For one thing it's hard to find the space. Crowds make garbage and damage things. Some schools hesitate to host the meetings. "This year there are so many candidates, arranging so many locations is really a hassle," sighs Wang Wen-liang, a colleague of Hsu Ming-yi. And mistakes can happen--like two candidates getting approval for the same time and same site. The election officials can only call out local influentials to solve the dispute. Taipei City began using computers in 1986 to avoid this problem; Taipei County will catch up this year.

A second kind of person is the "supervisor." Most are prefects at schools. The main task is to control the time allowed for speaking, give warnings for inappropriate speech, and hand out penalty tickets.

Perhaps they're too used to obedient students. Faced with pressing crowds and candidates whose every sentence or gesture can change the audience's emotion, "especially before the lifting of martial law they excluded that kind of daring speech." From their point of view, they feel isolated in the face of a crowd. Though there are police and security officers around, they are scattered. "So if the candidate just goes over by one or two minutes, I don't follow it up," one prefect says.

There have been people hit because they corrected the inappropriate speech of the candidates, so an unpopular meeting is the gem of the supervisor. Getting assignments "is like a lottery." To get a famous speaker like Kang Ning-hsiang or Frank Hsieh makes one very nervous. Two meetings of that type could bring on collapse, says a prefect.

Making up the ballots is often a source of problems. In the 1985 county magistrate elections, candidate Yu Chen Yueh-ying revealed two ballots which had been circulated even before polls had opened. Secretary Lin explains that some counties or cities don't have their own printing facilities, so they contract the printing of ballots out. Its not easy to control, and some ballots may leak out.

Overseeing the voting is not simple either. "In the 1950's, I served as the director of a polling place. I felt very honored," recalls Wang Wen-liang. "But now no one is willing to do it. Any error will be penalized, and you might even have to go to court."

Director Hsu agrees. Formerly he worked in a mountain area. The day before the election he would ask the farmers to bring the ballot boxes up the mountain. At that time the environment was simple, and elections weren't so intense. "Work was quite relaxed. Now everyone looks hard at th elections, a lot of people participate, and rumors have multiplied."

Opening the ballots is perhaps the most thorny moment. "In the past, very few people watched when the ballots were opened. Now, you are surrounded by crowds," says Chang Shu-hsuen of the Hsinchaung City Civil Affairs Office. In 1986, Taipei City used computers to tabulate the ballots. But Taipei County, also much populated, startled the central commission with their speed. "We practiced. Opening the ballot, calling it out, and marking it took about four seconds," says Director Hsu.

After the elections workers can rest. But some losing candidates don't take that rest. There may even be angry voters who think the balloting was unfair.

This three- to four-month high pressure period occurs only once every several years but "its like a whole year of civil service work," says Lin Kuo-hsiung of Sanchung City. What's interesting is that, just because they are so busy, election officials have no time to attend rallies. Their understanding of the candidates may not even be as much as that of informed citizens. Some are even too busy to vote.

This year there are several elections being held simultaneously, so work is up. But they can say, "With years of experience, it's no problem."

Secretaryin notes that according to the amended principles for implementation of the Law on Election and Recall promulgated in February of this year, the main feature of this year's election is "approvalism." That is, those things candidates may not do are listed; everything else is permitted. This is the exact opposite of the past. This means the supervisors' work will be a lot more relaxed.

Elections take manpower, money, and time. This year's year-end elections will cost more than NT$600 million and require more than 100,000 people. Have you thought about what you should do to make things better? Election workers hope: please cast your sacred ballot prudently.

[Picture Caption]

Political expression meetings can be bustling events--little do you know how many headaches this causes the election workers.

Is the political expression meeting supervisor the only person who likes most the candidates with the least crowd appeal?

In 1986 Taipei used computers to tabulate ballots, saving considerable effort.

Is the political expression meeting supervisor the only person who likes most the candidates with the least crowd appeal?

In 1986 Taipei used computers to tabulate ballots, saving considerable effort.