Overhaul postal votes system now, Bersih tells EC
SHAH ALAM - The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has urged the Election Commission (EC) to reform the postal vote system completely if they are unwilling to extend the state polls duration.
In a statement, the Bersih Steering Committee said they must allow postal voters to download the ballot paper and other necessary documents in PDF format to abolish the need for the EC to post or courier the papers to postal voters.
"This method removes the common errors, including writing serial numbers and inserting postal ballots manually. This would also save management costs for the EC.
"Bersih was disappointed that the campaign duration is still 14 days from July 29 to Aug 1, and this would add pressure on postal voters, primarily the 1B Category Overseas Workers, to send the postal vote envelope to the Management Officers before the voting day ended.
"Since the 14th general election (GE14), we have received complaints from postal voters that they receive their postal vote envelope only a few days before the polling date. The campaign duration should be at least 21 days," it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh on Wednesday that the polling day for state polls would be carried out simultaneously on Aug 12 while the candidate nomination will be held on July 29 and the early voting on Aug 8.
He said with the dates set, the campaign duration was 14 days, starting after the candidate nomination on July 29 and ending at 11.59 p.m. on Aug 11.
Bersih said assistance from public volunteers such as Global Bersih and VoteMalaysia has mobilised their global network once again to collect overseas ballot envelopes to send them back to their respective management officers.
"The efforts must be supported completely, and we urge the Foreign Ministry to allow Malaysia Halls to be used as ballot paper collection centres.
"Bersih urges all voters in the six states to exercise voting rights as it would impact the quality of administration.
"The state government is still in power to appoint local council members and mayors who would lead the local government," the statement said.
