SEREMBAN: The Election Commission (EC) will implement the Optical Character Recognition-Voter Attendance (OCR-VA) system on a pilot basis for the 16th Negri Sembilan state election on Saturday (Aug 1).
EC secretary Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus said the system will be deployed at SMA Dato' Klana Petra Maamor, involving polling streams 1 to 7 in the Ampangan state constituency, as part of efforts to improve the management of the electoral process.
"The OCR-VA system has been developed specifically to record and mark voters' attendance at polling streams through the automatic scanning of information on their MyKad.
"The use of this technology is expected to speed up the process of verifying and recording voter attendance, reduce errors associated with manual attendance marking, and enhance the efficiency of polling clerks," he said in a statement Thursday (July 30).
Khairul Shahril said the initiative also supported efforts to digitalise the electoral process by reducing reliance on manual methods without affecting the prescribed voting procedures.
He said voters would only need to turn up at their polling centres and present their MyKad to election officials for verification before proceeding with the voting process in accordance with the prescribed procedures.
"The EC assures voters that the OCR-VA System is used solely to record and mark voter attendance and does not involve the voting process or the recording of voters' choices.
"Therefore, the secrecy of the ballot remains fully protected. The system has also been developed with due regard for information security and the protection of voters' personal data," he said.
Khairul Shahril said the outcome of the pilot project would be comprehensively evaluated to assess its effectiveness, operational efficiency and potential for wider implementation in future elections.
"The EC seeks the cooperation of all voters during the implementation of this pilot project to ensure the voting process is conducted smoothly, orderly and efficiently," he said. - Bernama
