Label mix-up at KK, Api-Api polling station
KOTA KINABALU: A technical problem occurred at SMK St Francis Convent, resulting in the polling station for the P.172 Kota Kinabalu parliamentary and N.15 Api-Api state seats having ballots placed in the wrong boxes.
The ballot papers, namely orange for parliamentary seat and yellow for state seat, were placed in boxes that did not match the ballot papers.
In other words, the ballot papers for Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat were cast into the box labelled 'Negeri' (state) while the ballot papers for Api-Api state seat were placed into the box tagged 'Parlimen' (parliament).
A vigilant voter at stream (saluran) two alerted Api-Api candidate Christina Liew (PKR) who was present at the polling station.
The voting process at stream two was put on hold for 20 minutes from 10.25am as Liew discussed with the Election Commission (EC) officers and personnel on resolving the issue.
It was eventually agreed upon for the 'Parlimen' and 'Negeri' labels on the boxes to be switched to match the ballot papers inside.
Liew apologised to the voters for the delay but stressed that the incorrect labels was a serious mistake that had to be rectified immediately.
She also thanked the EC officers and personnel for their swift action in resolving the issue.
Nonetheless, Liew said, she would check other polling stations at SJK(C) Chung Hwa Kota Kinabalu, Tzu Yu Kindergarten and Maktab Sabah to ensure there was no issue with the ballot boxes.
While checking the ballot boxes, Liew revealed she also found unsealed boxes in three out of the five streams at the polling station.
"The boxes were only tied up. I made sure the officer sealed the boxes," she said.
Meanwhile, Liew said she was pleased with the voter turnout on polling day.
"A lot of voters came out early by the thousands, especially young voters, to line up under the hot sun.
"I hope this will make a difference in the results," she said.
Liew, who also vied for the P.181 Tawau parliamentary seat, was defending her Api-Api state seat against Dr Chan Chee Ching (independent), Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai (BN-PBS), Land Lip Fong (Anak Negeri) and Lim Kat Chung (SAPP).
Democratic Action Party's (DAP) Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat candidate, Chan Foong Hin, had also voiced out the same problem with ballots not matching the label on the boxes when met at SJK(C) Anglo Chinese here.
According to Chan, EC personnel rectified the issue immediately upon noticing the mistake and and also assured him that it would not be a problem.
"We have informed our counting agents to be alert to ensure that the ballot papers are segregated according to the colours and that the ballots will not be regarded as spoilt votes," he added.
Chan also reported receiving spam calls since early morning yesterday.
He was contesting against Dr Joseph Lee Han Kyun (BNPBS) and Datuk Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) in the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary constituency.