KUALA LUMPUR: The VoteMalaysia Coalition (VMC) has joined groups like Global Bersih in calling for the voting process for Malaysians abroad to be improved.
It urged the Election Commission (EC) to work with Malaysian embassies abroad, and to also extend the campaign period to 21 days to enable postal votes to reach constituencies on time.
VMC member Qyira Yusri said the EC could address logistical issues involving citizens living overseas by allowing them to vote physically at the embassies or to mail their ballots to the embassies instead of to their returning officers (ROs).
“Malaysian missions cannot conduct such activities without the EC’s authorisation and we recommend the commission explore this option.
“If direct involvement by the Foreign Ministry is deemed impossible, we recommend that the ministry play a role in coordinating efforts with volunteers and non-governmental organisations to ease the process of postal voting,” she told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall yesterday.
Qyira, who is also a co-founder of the youth voting movement Undi18, which is a member of VMC, said if the campaign period is extended to 21 days, postal voters will have enough time to send their ballots.
“The longer period will also give them sufficient time to receive their ballots and find a witness,” she said.
Based on past experiences, she said the most common issues for the postal voting process were ballots being dispatched without a witness, swapping of ballots from different countries with similar names and ballots without the RO address, which rendered these ballots invalid.
Qyira said the EC could, among other measures, provide tracking numbers when ballots are dispatched to voters.
“The EC can further ease the registration process by improving its efforts to inform voters of the application deadline as postal voters.
“Establish a single application for a MySPR account as it is unnecessary for postal voters to apply twice, and to prevent confusion.
“The EC should allow passports to be used for verification purposes and ballots to be electronically printed instead of having them posted back to Malaysia.
“It should also strengthen its website infrastructure,” she said.
