PUTRAJAYA - The Election Commission (EC) and the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms are still undecided on the proposal to allow voting for Malaysians abroad.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Omar said it was one of the recommendations that was still under discussion by both parties.
"Besides the technicalities of the voting process, we will also need to deliberate on the eligibility criteria for overseas voters," he said.
"For instance, US citizens abroad are only allowed to vote if they are US taxpayers.
"Likewise, we need to determine the eligibility criteria for overseas voters for our own country," he said.
Currently, only civil servants, members of the armed forces and students overseas are allowed postal voting.
Wan Ahmad said another proposal still under discussion was the call for a statutory declaration from voters who wanted to change their voting centres.
The EC, he said, had explained to the committee that it was inconvenient to ask for a statutory declaration from voters on this matter.
"We must understand that it may not be easy to find Commissioners of Oath in every town and voters have to pay a fee to get their statutory declaration from them.
"We feel it will be a big inconvenience to the rakyat," said Wan Ahmad.
Responding to claims by certain parties that the EC had shifted voters around during the last general election, Wan Ahmad said it might be due to the splitting or relocation of the polling centres.
"Sometimes the EC may need to split a polling centre into two because the voting population had increased.
"We may also change the location of the polling centre if we find a new school, per se, that is more suitable," said Wan Ahmad, adding that voters could check the location of their polling centres by a month before polling day.
Wan Ahmad also revealed that the EC could not remove the serial numbers on ballot papers, as it needed to keep track of them.
"We can't have blank ballot papers floating around," said Wan Ahmad.
"However, we have stopped recording the serial numbers of ballot papers on polling day," he added.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Omar said it was one of the recommendations that was still under discussion by both parties.
"Besides the technicalities of the voting process, we will also need to deliberate on the eligibility criteria for overseas voters," he said.
"For instance, US citizens abroad are only allowed to vote if they are US taxpayers.
"Likewise, we need to determine the eligibility criteria for overseas voters for our own country," he said.
Currently, only civil servants, members of the armed forces and students overseas are allowed postal voting.
Wan Ahmad said another proposal still under discussion was the call for a statutory declaration from voters who wanted to change their voting centres.
The EC, he said, had explained to the committee that it was inconvenient to ask for a statutory declaration from voters on this matter.
"We must understand that it may not be easy to find Commissioners of Oath in every town and voters have to pay a fee to get their statutory declaration from them.
"We feel it will be a big inconvenience to the rakyat," said Wan Ahmad.
Responding to claims by certain parties that the EC had shifted voters around during the last general election, Wan Ahmad said it might be due to the splitting or relocation of the polling centres.
"Sometimes the EC may need to split a polling centre into two because the voting population had increased.
"We may also change the location of the polling centre if we find a new school, per se, that is more suitable," said Wan Ahmad, adding that voters could check the location of their polling centres by a month before polling day.
Wan Ahmad also revealed that the EC could not remove the serial numbers on ballot papers, as it needed to keep track of them.
"We can't have blank ballot papers floating around," said Wan Ahmad.
"However, we have stopped recording the serial numbers of ballot papers on polling day," he added.
