Early voting kicks off in Melaka

Early voting for the Melaka state election began at 8am today, involving 11,557 police and military personnel and their spouses.

The early voting process will be conducted at 31 early voting centres (PPA) in 24 state constituencies until 5.30pm.

Among the PPA are the Melaka contingent police headquarters, Sekolah Kebangsaan Kem Terendak I and II, Dewan Sri Beruang Kem Askar Wataniah, the Alor Gajah, Melaka Tengah and Jasin district police headquarters and several police stations.

Agents of candidates and election observers appointed by the Election Commission (EC) are allowed to witness the early voting process, which will also be streamed live on the EC’s Facebook.

The voting process will be conducted in accordance with the tight SOPs set by the EC to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Voters are required to wear a face mask, have their temperature checked, practise physical distancing, use hand sanitiser and scan their MySejahtera QR code before entering the PPA.

The SOPs also include using a disposable brush to mark with ink the fingers of symptomatic voters who have a temperature exceeding 37.5 degrees Celsius, a cough and a runny nose.

To prevent crowding at the voting centres, four time slots have been drawn up for voters to cast their ballots.

The voting time slots are 8am to 10am, 10am to noon, noon to 2pm and 2pm to 4.30pm.

The state polls were called following the dissolution of the 28-seat Melaka state legislative assembly on Oct 4 after four state assemblymen withdrew their support for Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

Polling is on Nov 20.