Post offices busy as postal voters race against time

PETALING JAYA: Post offices are seeing more traffic as those who applied for postal votes are now racing against time to ensure that the ballot papers reach their respective returning officers.

Akal Barjit was among those rushing to send the ballot papers back on the same day.

“I was anxious that it might not arrive on time,” said the 36-year-old pressman, adding that he finally got it yesterday. The postal voting process was fairly convenient, he said.

“It helps that it is registered, so we don’t have to fork out money to send the ballot papers back,” he said.

Chin Suet Fong, 53, said she found the process easy and convenient.

“I received mine last Thursday and posted it back the next day,” said the teacher.

Photographer Roslan Abdullah proposed for more time to be given to return the ballot papers.

“I submitted my application for postal voting on April 16 and received the ballot papers on May 4.

Some of his friends only got it yesterday, said the 25-year-old.

Another media practitioner, who wished to be known only as Emma, said she would reconsider applying for postal vote in the next general election. Her ballot papers arrived yesterday, so she had to rush to the post office.

University student Eugene Lee, who is in Australia, opted to use runners to deliver his ballot papers.

The runners, said 21-year-old Lee, would collect ballot papers from voters in different states there before flying back to Malaysia to deliver them to relevant authorities.