JOHOR POLLS | Johor voters have begun receiving their postal ballots for the state polls, but there have been concerns about whether their vote will count amid some complaints of bungles.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said his party has received complaints, including an incident where there was smearing on the ballot paper.
"And how is it so coincidental that the smearing happened on the box of the BN candidate?" he told a press conference in Batu Pahat yesterday.
Lim said under election rules, a voter can draw a "circle, turtle or even a snake" beside a candidate's name and it will be counted as a vote for the candidate.
He also shared a photograph of the postal ballot (above) that showed the smearing was beside the name of BN's Ter Hwa Kwong, who is a candidate for Penggaram.
His contenders are Perikatan Nasional's Sia Wee Yet and Pakatan Harapan's Gan Peck Cheng.
Gan, who is from DAP, was also present at the press conference.
Lim pointed out that the voter, who is based in Kuala Lumpur and is a qualified postal voter as she must be on duty on voting day, risks having her vote declared invalid if she were to choose any other candidate.
Under election rules, if a voter marks beside the name of more than one candidate, the vote is considered invalid.
"If she supports Harapan and puts a ‘cross’, will the ballot become invalid?" Lim asked.
Gan pointed out another incident involving a voter in Rengit. Rengit is one of three state seats in Batu Pahat. The others are Penggeram and Senggarang.
Gan said the Rengit voter, who is residing in Singapore, found she was given the wrong accompanying form upon receiving her ballot paper.
Switched forms
"She received an envelope which had her name on it but when she opened the envelope, the Form 2 which is the identity verification form, had a different name," Gan said.
Gan also made a call to the affected voter during the press conference and put her on speakerphone where she explained her predicament.
The voter expressed concern on whether her vote would be considered valid when she mailed the ballot back as the identity verification form was in someone else's name.
The voter said she had contacted the name of the person in the form and found out that their identity verification forms had been switched.
Lim questioned how such errors could occur in the digital age and urged the Election Commission (EC) to address the issues in a professional manner.
According to the EC, it had mailed out 36,729 postal ballots between March 1 and 3 for the Johor polls.
Of this, 7,814 postal ballots are for Malaysians residing overseas.
The EC, in a statement on March 4, reminded voters to mail their marked ballot along with the Form 2 back to their constituency's returning officer which must arrive by 5pm on March 12, the polling day.
It also reminded voters not to take pictures of their ballots.
The general Johor population will also cast their ballots at voting centres on March 12. - Mkini
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