KUALA LUMPUR − It will be virtually impossible to conduct absentee or postal voting for the upcoming Sarawak election for those residing outside the state, said Deputy Law Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.
She said handling the whole voting process would require a tremendous amount of resources.
“There is a technical issue with collecting all the ballot papers, as the voting is based on constituencies in the state assembly.
“Because it involves 82 state seats, this means it will require 82 ballot boxes placed in each voting centre (outside Sarawak).
“There will be problems in terms of logistics management and it will require a high number of election officers,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat’s special chamber today.
Mas Ermieyati was responding to Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen (Bandar Kuching-PH) who wanted to know if the government plans to implement reforms such as allowing absentee voting for the Sarawak election, which is set for December 18.
Absentee voting is a system that allows individuals unable or unwilling to cast their ballots at the official polling station assigned to do so via other methods such as through post, or online.
Yii said while he understood that there are technical issues with implementing a new policy at short notice, such a move is necessary considering the Covid-19 situation the country is facing today.
He also noted that the exorbitant air fares for those travelling from the peninsula to Sarawak during the election period would mean only the rich will be able to fulfil their electoral responsibilities.
“There are EC offices located nationwide. Can the offices be used as voting centres for Sarawakians?
“We can always find a way to ensure counting is done in a transparent, clean, and fair manner, but don’t ignore the plight of those who can't return to vote,” he had said.
Responding to Mas Ermieyati’s explanation on the difficulty of implementing absentee voting, Yii said the excuse given by the deputy minister is weak.
“If we want to invest, why not invest in democracy ? If we really want to provide the 82 ballot boxes, why can’t we do that? This involves close to 250,000 Sarawakians who are residing in the peninsula.”
The DAP man also took issue with the apparent lack of innovation by the EC to come up with alternative solutions to voting, close to two years after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mas Ermieyati said the electoral body is in the midst of conducting a study on the possibility of using an e-voting system in the future, which she said will be concluded by next year.
The study includes determining the pros and cons of such a voting system, namely pertaining to the issue of voters’ secretary, safety, cost, and education. − The Vibes, December 1, 2021
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