Unstamped ballot papers issued at polling stations valid – EC

PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission has assured voters that their ballots would not be rejected even if they had not been stamped by the polling clerk.

“The presiding officer of the polling station cannot reject the unstamped ballots because they have been issued legally,” said EC chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah.

As such, voters should not worry about a viral message on social media that several voters had been handed unstamped ballot papers in the 14th general election yesterday at a polling station, he said at a press conference at the EC headquarters at Menara SPR here.

He said the viral message could have been designed to create panic and anxiety in the voters.

He also advised the people to lodge police reports on complaints about the ballot papers so that the EC could conduct an investigation.

He gave the advice in reply to queries from reporters about the complaints from voters that there had been black dots on the ballot papers.

“For EC, the important thing is to identify the candidate that a voter picks. However, the EC will investigate the matter,” he said.

Asked about a video recording about a young disabled woman who was caught distributing fake ballot papers at a polling station in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, he said a police report could be made on the matter.

Mohd Hashim said fake viral social media messages were expected to prevail until the polling stations closed at 5 pm.

“The EC hopes that voters will not be influenced by these messages that were viralled to cause panic,” he said.

A total of 8,253 polling stations were opened from 8 am to 5 pm throughout the country, making available 28,115 polling streams, mainly at schools and multipurpose and community halls.

Some 14,449,200 of the total 14,940,624 electors were eligible to vote yesterday. The rest are absentee voters, postal voters and early voters. - Bernama