`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

‘Teachers forced to be postal voters’


Some teachers in Serdang have raised concerns that if they are postal voters, their votes could be tampered with and would not be secret anymore.
PETALING JAYA: Some teachers in Serdang who will be on duty at polling centres fear that their votes will be traced and tampered with if they are forced to be postal voters.
Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching said some teachers have approached her with these fears.
“I have received complaints from teachers, especially those from the Serdang area who are unhappy with the new regulation of the Election Commission [EC] which forces them to be registered as postal voters,” she said.
Teo said that the EC called polls returning officers and polling supervisors for the Serdang constituency for a briefing entitled “Follow-up briefing to general election officers to face the 13th general election” on Jan 17 at the German-Malaysian Institute (GMI) auditorium.
During the briefing, the teachers were told by EC officers that 240,000 general election officers have to register as postal voters.
“This has caused concern to the teachers because they are worried that the Barisan Nasional will be able to trace who they voted for and are worried if their vote will still remain a secret or otherwise.
“They are also worried that their votes will be changed due to the absence of monitoring since political parties are not allowed to send agents to supervise,” she said.
Teo, who is also DAP’s assistant national publicity secretary, said that in the past, teachers were allowed to go out and cast their votes when the polling centres were not so busy but currently, they will not be allowed to do so since they are forced to register as postal voters.
“Now, they are not allowed to go out and cast their vote, even if the place of voting is very near to the polling centre they are stationed at,” said Teo.
However, she said that the EC told the teachers they can take turns to have lunch and perform their prayers on polling day.
Teo is worried that due to the lack of transparency, this will lead to voting fraud and instead pushed for advanced voting because this will ensure more transparency.
“If the police and army voters can be reclassified as advanced voters, why can’t the EC allow these officers to be registered as advanced voters, instead of postal voters, who are not subjected to supervision by political parties?
“The number of postal ballots cast should be minimised as much as possible,” she said.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.