Overseas postal voters say yet to receive ballot papers

Some postal voters, including Malaysians abroad, claim they have yet to receive their ballot papers ahead of the 15th general election (GE15) on Nov 19.

Some said they were even informed that they would only receive their postal ballot papers on polling day itself.

Checks by Bernama on Twitter found that there were voters who had registered as postal voters almost a week ago, but were disappointed as they had yet to receive their ballot papers.

Twitter account holder S Prem Kumar said he had not received any information from the Election Commission (EC) on the status of his postal vote.

"I am studying in India and have registered to be a postal voter but have not received the ballot papers," said Prem, who will be voting in the Port Dickson parliamentary constituency.
 
"… and today, I have still not received any updates or messages from the EC," he added.

Another Twitter user, Aira Nur Ariana who lives in New York, said she too had yet to receive her ballot papers.

She said the delay in receiving the postal ballot papers should not happen as this is not the first time the EC is conducting a general election involving postal votes.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin Amri, a cybersecurity consultant in Saudi Arabia, said that he had received a notification from a courier company that his postal ballot papers would only be delivered by 8pm (Saudi Arabia time) on Nov 19.

"I will only be getting the ballot papers after the election is over... what a joke, EC. I suggest that without using postal ballots, the EC should resolve this issue by allowing overseas postal voters to cast their ballots at the Malaysian embassies or consulates. That would be more easy right?" he said on social media.

The EC has yet to respond to queries on the matter.