New timeline for postal voting could be a problem

IT has come to my attention that there has been a change in the procedures for overseas postal voters to cast their votes in the 14th General Election (GE14).

During the last general election (GE13), my friends who were in the United Kingdom voted at the Malaysian Embassy a week before polling day.

For GE14, the postal registration confirmation letter sent to overseas voters states that ballot papers will be delivered to the address provided by the individual voters in the overseas postal voter registration form.

I called the Election Commission (EC) recently to enquire about the timeline and procedures for the overseas postal voters to return the ballot papers.

The response I got was that the EC would only distribute the ballot papers to the respective polling stations throughout Malaysia the latest by the third calendar day after nomination day on April 28. The ballot papers would then be sent to the overseas postal voters by the respective polling stations.

The ballot papers are expected to reach the overseas voters within two to four days, that is between May 2 and May 4.

The EC expects overseas voters to return the completed ballot papers via the fastest means to reach it the latest by 5pm on May 9 (polling day). The voters would have to bear the cost of postage.

When I asked about the insufficient time (less than a week) given to the overseas postal voters to return the ballot papers (considering May 7 is a public holiday in Britain and postal votes from other countries like the United States may need a longer period to reach Malaysia), I was told that it was solely my personal view and not that of the general public.

This new timeline for casting their votes could cause problems for overseas voters and I sincerely hope the EC will explain why the procedures needed to be changed and also come up with a feasible solution to solve the problem before it is too late.

ON BEHALF OF OVERSEAS POSTAL VOTERS Penang