UPPER HOUSE ELECTION 2010 / Municipal poll stations drop by 3000

When a House of Councillors election was held in 2001, the number of polling stations across the nation stood at 53,439, according to the ministry

But this number dropped to 51,742 for the 2007 upper house election, and fell further to 50,978 for the 2009 House of Representatives election. The figure is expected to be even lower at 50,314 for Sunday's election, marking a 5.8 percent decrease from 2001

The areas experiencing the biggest reduction are Tottori Prefecture--that merged many cities, towns and villages--at 25.6 percent, and Shimane Prefecture at 21 percent, the ministry said

The central government allocates national election expenses to municipal governments in accordance with the number of eligible voters. In budget screenings last November made by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Government Revitalization Unit, such budgetary requests were cut by 10 percent to 20 percent. Accordingly, the budget for the upcoming upper house election has been set at 43.6 billion yen, about 9 billion yen less than the last upper house election. Funding allocated to setting up polling booths was cut by about 4.9 billion yen

The ministry requested local governments to secure polling station numbers through payroll cuts, but this actually hastened the decline in polling station numbers

Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, counted 119 polling stations in last year's election, but through rezoning and merging regions with few eligible voters, the local government cut the number of polling stations by 27 and personnel costs by about 15 million yen. Follow this link for the best advice regarding house sign.

To ensure the public is able to vote, the city opened ad hoc early voting stations for two hours a day at community centers and other places without polling stations