By Clara Chooi
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The Election Commission (EC) revealed today that two colours of indelible ink will be used in the coming election to prevent advance voters from voting twice.
According to Star Online, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof (picture) said a different colour will be used for advance voters to differentiate them from those casting their ballot on polling day itself.
“We are not disclosing the colours of the ink and it will remain a secret until polling day to ensure that no one copies the colour,” the daily quoted him as saying after he had attended a briefing with district police chiefs and election officers in Kota Kinabalu.
The use of indelible ink, a key demand of election watchdog Bersih 2.0, was made official in mid-February after it was gazetted by the EC.
According to Bernama Online, Abdul Aziz also said today that all 242,294 postal voters, including 94,613 police and 147,681 army personnel, will become advance voters by default in the coming polls.
Advance voting was mooted by electoral reform groups like Bersih 2.0 as a way of doing away with postal voting, which has often been criticised for its lack of transparency.
“Postal voting has caused much controversy as though the process was not transparent. We’ve discussed this with the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform, and it was agreed that an advance voting system be introduced in the election.
“The advance voting process is similar to the normal voting process in that it won’t use envelopes or bags; the only difference is the time and day of polling, which may be two or three days before the actual polling day,” Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying by the news agency.
The PSC was mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to look into electoral reforms shortly after his administration earned widespread criticism over its handling of the chaotic Bersih 2.0 July 9 rally last year.
The committee, which was given a six-month deadline to recommend improvements to the country’s electoral process, is expected to table its findings in Parliament before April 2.
Among others, the committee has also recommended that the EC formulate a method to allow all Malaysians living abroad to vote during general elections.