Press statement by Khoo Poay Tiong, DAP National Assistant Organising Secretary and MP for Kota Melaka, in Kuala Lumpur on 17 March 2022:
The DAP calls upon the Election Commission (EC) to introduce a new voting arrangement in the form of Remote Early Voting (REV) in order to improve voter turnout among outstation voters in the upcoming general election.
Recently in parliament, the government has urged outstation voters (i.e. those residing, studying, or working outside the state of their registered electoral constituency) to apply and change their voting constituency according to their new address. This suggestion is invalid as voters may still have strong local ties with their electoral constituency. For example, Sabah and Sarawakian students studying in peninsular Malaysia may still want their vote to make a difference in their home state. The EC must take steps to facilitate this process.
Under the proposed REV system, outstation voters can choose to vote remotely in the state in which they are residing. The votes cast will still be for the voters’ original registered electoral constituency. This reduces the time and cost of travelling back to their hometown to vote during elections.
For example, Hafiz is a voter registered under the Sungai Petani parliamentary constituency in Kedah. He has recently graduated and moved to Kuala Lumpur to start his first job. His family and home are still in Sungai Petani. In the upcoming general election, Hafiz can choose to register as a REV voter. He can vote in a designated REV polling centre in Kuala Lumpur without having to travel back to Kedah. He has to vote earlier, three days before the ordinary polling day, to allow time for the EC to facilitate the process. The ballot boxes will be stored securely until the end of the ordinary polling day. The votes will then be counted in Kuala Lumpur, and the results will be transmitted to the Sungai Petani constituency to be tallied with the other ordinary votes. The voting and counting process will be monitored by polling agents and counting agents.
The four state elections held since the last general election have shown a very low voter turnout trend (Sabah 66.61%; Melaka 65.85%; Sarawak 60.67%; and Johor 54.92%). The widening of the voter base through automatic registration and UNDI18 in the Johor election has further dampened voter turnout.
Among other reasons, the low voter turnout in these four state elections is because of the substantial number of outstation voters. These voters need to spend significant time and cost to return to their hometown and vote during elections.
For example, a Johorian voter who is working in Kuala Lumpur would have spent a few hundred ringgit to return home to vote in the Johor state election last weekend. Likewise, Sabah and Sarawak voters who are residing in peninsular Malaysia would need to purchase flight tickets, which may cost more than RM1000 during elections, to return home to vote during the general election. Thus, the REV system is important to make it easier for outstation voters to vote in the next general election.
DAP does not support the expansion of postal voting to outstation voters. Given the history of electoral fraud and low public trust towards the EC, postal voting would not be implemented effectively in Malaysia, especially when done on a large scale. While postal voting is a convenient form of absentee voting, the process lacks transparency. There is no effective way to monitor and ensure that postal voting would not be abused. There is a significant risk of electoral fraud and vote-buying.
The right to vote is enshrined under Article 119 of the Federal Constitution. However, the right to vote is meaningless if people find it difficult to participate in elections. The EC, as the primary electoral authority in Malaysia, has failed to address the declining voter turnout rate. While the whole world is adapting to Covid-19, the EC has not been proactive in finding “new norms” in elections. In the recent Johor election, the EC even denied some voters their right to vote by closing certain polling stations earlier at 2.00pm without proper justification.
Low voter turnout would likely to continue unless the EC takes responsibility and make it easier for voters to cast their vote. Meaningful reforms to improve our electoral process must be taken immediately and before the next general election, starting with the REV system.
