NGO: Open online registration for overseas voters before state polls

 

Global Bersih has called on the Election Commission (EC) to open online registration for overseas postal voting immediately ahead of the six state elections expected in the middle of the year.

In a statement today, Global Berish also urged for urgent changes to improve the overseas postal voting system before the state elections

“This should be done immediately so that the growing number of overseas Malaysian voters are able to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming state polls for Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Penang.

“This is essential to avoid processing backlogs and delays.

“Currently, Malaysians abroad have to register as overseas voters during a narrow time frame before each election, putting pressure on both EC staff to process the applications and on voters to apply within a limited time, said the NGO.

It said that the EC can be expected to handle up to 10,000 postal vote applications without running into severe backlogs and delays using the current process.

“The implementation of Undi18 and Automatic Voters Registration (AVR) has resulted in a growth from 14.9 million eligible voters in GE14 to more than 21.1 million eligible voters in the current electoral roll.

“Thanks to these and other recent reforms, the number of overseas Malaysians entitled to vote has significantly grown and is set to increase even further,” said Global Bersih.

It pointed out that there were 7,979 registered overseas postal voters for GE14 while in GE15, this jumped to 48,109, which indicated a drastic increase of 603 percent.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the population of the Malaysian diaspora stood at 1,860,037 as of 2020.

“Given the continuing increase in the number of Malaysians voting from outside Malaysia, the period to register as overseas voters on the EC online platform should be extended to six months to one year before the projected election dates for future elections,” it added.

Immediate changes

It called for the following changes to be implemented as soon as possible, given the speculation that the state elections might take place as early as May or June this year:

• Non-Malaysians should be allowed to act as witnesses on postal ballot documents. The current requirement that postal ballot documents must be signed and witnessed by a Malaysian citizen has proven to be a stumbling block for many overseas Malaysians who live in areas with few or no other Malaysians. Allowing non-Malaysians to be witnesses will enable more overseas Malaysians to participate in the voting process.

• The campaign period should be extended to a minimum of 21-25 days, allowing enough time for postal ballots to be sent to overseas voters and returned to the polling stations. Currently, the 11-day minimum requirement of campaign days under Regulation 3(1) Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981 does not reflect the reality of the overseas postal voting timeline, which is impossible to accommodate within the 11-day minimum period

• Standardise and communicate the process of overseas ballot dispatch to overseas Malaysians. There is a need to have a transparent and standardised SOP on how ballots are dispatched to overseas Malaysians. Global Bersih suggested that EC specifically identifies the fastest and safest method to dispatch the overseas ballots, ensuring that there will be tracking numbers.

• More effective overseas voter education and mobilisation by distributing accurate and updated information using all possible channels, especially the Malaysian foreign missions and agencies responsible for students, whose assistance should be explicitly solicited by the EC.

Global Bersih said that these changes could be done quickly as they fall within the discretion of the EC and do not require significant amendments to any existing laws or policies.

“Moving forward, the most pressing need will be to shorten the ballot timeline, that is, the time the ballots are produced and returned to the returning officer.

“Global Bersih believes that one of the next steps will be for the EC to introduce electronic elements to shorten the ballot timeline by issuing printable PDF voting documents.

“ This is distinct from online voting as, under this system, the ballots will still be returned per post to the returning officer.

“Under this hybrid system, the overseas postal voters will receive their digitised voting documents using their EC user account as a PDF document to be printed by the overseas voters, marked, and sent back to the returning officer,” it said.

Global Bersih also asked the EC to permanently entrench the status of Malaysians residing overseas as voters in legislation instead of having to gazette them as postal voters for each election.

“Provisions entitling Malaysians living outside Malaysia to exercise their right to vote from their country of residence should be enshrined in the Election Regulations instead of being left to the discretion of the EC, as is currently the case,” it added. - - Mkini