KAGOSHIMA (Kyodo) Voters cast ballots Thursday on small islands in Kagoshima Prefecture for the general election in advance to prepare for a possible transportation cutoff due to bad weather at sea.
The ballots collected from the island towns of Mishima and Toshima and the island of Kuchinoerabu in the town of Yaku, which together have some 980 eligible voters, will be brought to the city of Kagoshima and the town of Yakushima by boat to be counted Sunday with other ballots cast nationwide on the official election day.
Taking into account typhoons and other conditions that could hold up boats, the islands' only means of transportation, the towns have always conducted voting in advance in national elections.
Head-on battles between Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party of Japan candidates are expected in the constituencies that cover the towns.