THE Election Commission (EC) is expected to roll out automatic voter registration by July next year, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Shabudin Yahaya told the Dewan Negara today.

The commission is working with the National Registration Department (NRD) to prepare the system.

“The EC expects to complete all of its undertakings within 18 to 24 months since the passing of the amendment bill by the Dewan Negara on July 25, 2019,” he said.

“Hence, the implementation is expected at the latest by July 2021.”

He was responding to a question by Senator Ismail Yusop on the latest developments in implementing the new minimum voting age of 18 and automatic voter registration.

There are 15 million voters above the age of 21 in the country but there are also another 4.2 million, who have yet to register.

Shabudin said the number of voters is expected to increase by another six to seven million when the lower voting age is enforced.

“We will have close to 22 million voters in 2021 when the lower voting age is implemented,” he said.

Shabudin said apart from the EC,  political parties, pressure groups and household heads have a role in instilling awareness on voting.

The Dewan Rakyat passed the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 to lower the voting age on July 16 last year.

Ten days later, the bill was approved by the Senate with a two-thirds majority.

With the passing of the bill, the 15th general election will see 18-year-olds given the vote, and they will also be automatically registered when they come of age. – September 9, 2020.