KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — The federal government should urgently expand postal ballots to voters living outside their constituencies in order to preserve the country’s democracy alongside Covid-19, said the Electoral Reforms Committee (ERC) and Bersih 2.0.

Both agreed that such a move was highly achievable with legal amendments that require no more than a simple majority in Parliament.

After the Sabah state election forced a massive wave of Covid-19 infections on the country, the need for electoral reforms has grown increasingly urgent due to the necessity of the Sarawak state poll next year and a possible early general election due to the ruling coalition’s instability.

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ERC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said expanding postal ballots was one measure that could be introduced quickly and it would be foolish to keep ignoring this option in favour of more extreme measures.

“In the immediate term, postal voting laws can be amended but the election laws will take some time as several laws need amending. 

“But here we have ministers saying we need a two-thirds majority to pass these amendments.

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“This is not a matter or political interest, it’s a matter of national interest. I’m sure the legislators are not that dumb as to not vote for it (amendments),” said Abdul Rashid when contacted.

Abdul Rashid stressed that laws were not immutable and should adapt with time.

Noting the unprecedented situation of Covid-19 here and elsewhere in the world, the ERC chief said it was critical that laws governing Malaysia’s elections evolve in order to preserve the country’s social order against the indefinite pandemic.

“This is the right time for us to look into the need to take care of our democratic electoral process,” Abdul Rashid emphasised.

Chairman of election watchdog group Bersih 2.0, Thomas Fann, pointed out that this has been among his group’s previous proposals to make voting less burdensome for out-of-state voters. — Picture by Choo Choy May
Chairman of election watchdog group Bersih 2.0, Thomas Fann, pointed out that this has been among his group’s previous proposals to make voting less burdensome for out-of-state voters. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Similarly, the chairman of election watchdog group Bersih 2.0, Thomas Fann, said that expanding the postal ballot to out-of-state voters could be done with just two legal amendments and did not require touching the Federal Constitution.

The first was to change the definition of an absentee voter under Regulation 2 of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002 while the second would be to expand the eligibility to postal and advance ballots Regulation 3 of the Elections (Postal Voting) Regulations 2003.

Fann pointed out that this has been among his group’s previous proposals to make voting less burdensome for out-of-state voters, such as those in Sabah who must spend an inordinate amount to travel home just to cast their ballots.

Insisting that the amendments were easily possible with sufficient political will, Fann also said it should be the Election Commission’s objective to make voting as easy and safe as possible to Malaysians.

“A simple majority will do,” Fann told Malay Mail when asked how challenging it would be to expand postal voting now, given the likelihood of major elections in Malaysia alongside Covid-19.

“Legal barriers are the least of the concerns as I believe that it is within EC’s power to quickly amend the needed regulations.”

Saying it would be dereliction for the country’s voting regulator not to explore ways to allow Malaysians to vote more safely, the Bersih chief pointed out that over 100 million Americans have voted by mail for their country’s 2020 presidential election.

Comparatively, 136 million votes were cast for the entire 2016 US presidential election.

Fann argued that the true obstacles to such a reform was conservatism rather than any technical barrier, saying there were proven and effective safeguards to alleviate concerns of possible vote fraud.

“The challenge is to come up with a tamper-proof process. With modern technology, the solutions are there,” he said, adding that it was incumbent on the EC to explore these.

Undi Sarawak’s research lead Nadia Malyanah suggested voting times could also be expanded to as long as one month for voters to drop off their ballots in order to avoid congestion at voting centres. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
Undi Sarawak’s research lead Nadia Malyanah suggested voting times could also be expanded to as long as one month for voters to drop off their ballots in order to avoid congestion at voting centres. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

Undi Sarawak’s research lead Nadia Malyanah also said there was no clear reason why voting reforms could not be achieved if lawmakers cooperated.

Aside from postal voting, she suggested voting times could also be expanded to as long as one month for voters to drop off their ballots in order to avoid congestion at voting centres.

She acknowledged that any changes to a system as important as voting would need time and resources, but reiterated that these could be overcome with sufficient political will.

“No one wants to be blamed for causing another wave of Covid-19 cases, particularly when it is possible to avoid and mitigate such incidences,” Nadia told Malay Mail.

“I think there’s a genuine immediate need to figure out how to do elections properly and safely.”

Since October after the Sabah election, Malaysia has amassed over 20,000 new Covid-19 infections or more than the previous nine months combined.