Bersih: Hundreds of overseas voters yet to receive ballot papers

GE14 | Electoral reform coalition Bersih said today the Election Commission (EC) has made an "irresponsible statement" to remind postal voters that they should not wait until the last minute to post their ballot papers.

Bersih executive director Yap Swee Seng said this was because there have been numerous complaints from voters who have yet to receive their postal ballot papers, with only three days left before polling on May 9.

"There have been many such cases and I think this is the fault of the EC," Yap told a press conference at Bersih's office in Petaling Jaya this morning.

He argued that the EC should not shift the blame to Pos Malaysia, responsible for posting the ballots to domestic and overseas postal voters, as it was the EC's decision to only have 11 days between nominations day on April 28 to polling on May 9.

"I think we should not blame Pos Malaysia.

"The blame should be placed squarely on the EC because it is almost an impossible mission for Pos Malaysia to deliver the ballot papers to all parts of the world in such a short period of time," he said.

Bersih's outreach officer Chan Tsu Chong, who was also present during the press conference, also said hundreds of complaints have been received so far from overseas postal voters who have yet to receive their postal ballot papers.

"As of yesterday, we have received hundreds of complaints on overseas postal voting.

"While some said they already received their ballot papers, others said they did not, while there were also those who checked and found out that they would only receive their ballot paper on May 8 or even May 10, after polling day," he revealed.

"When they called a returning officer to check, they did not receive any explanation or even given a tracking number to check on the status of their postal ballot," he said.

Chan added that based on complaints received by Bersih, there were overseas postal voters who called up individual courier services to check whether their ballot paper had been posted, only to discover that they would not receive it on time to be posted back by polling day.

He also said there were similar complaints received from domestic postal voters, although Bersih has yet to compile the total figure for all related complaints.

Postal votes must reach their respective returning officers (RO) by 5pm on polling day - Wednesday, May 9 - for them to be counted.

Postal votes need to be placed in envelopes addressed to the RO in their constituency. Alternatively, they can be sent to the RO’s office at voting centres.

On April 28, EC chief Mohd Hashim Abdullah said that he believes the eleven days of campaign period was enough time for overseas foreign voters to mail their ballot papers, so long as they do not hold on to it until the last minute.  - Mkini