ELIGIBLE voters aged 18 and above who haven’t verified their information for the electoral roll will still be added to it when Undi18 comes into force, a source in the Election Commission (EC) said.

This is because implementation of the new voting age at 18 will be done together with automatic voter registration (AVR).

AVR will proceed regardless of the verification of voter information, the source told The Malaysian Insight, requesting anonymity as she is not authorised to speak to the media.

A verification exercise is currently ongoing at https://mysprsppa.spr.gov.my, where Malaysians aged 18 and above who had not before registered as voters can check their details such as name, identity card number and address, which will determine their constituency and voting centre.

There are some 5.8 million prospective voters altogether, while youth groups have said around 1.2 million of them are youths aged 18 to 20.

“The process to verify is just to give them the opportunity to double-check their information before they are added,” the EC source said.

Last month, EC secretary Ikmalrudin Ishak said new voters can check the status of their automatic registration from October 1 to 31 and file objections if needed.

He said EC will put up information of the 5.8 million prospective voters on public display, so they will be able to verify their details.

Malaysia is set to implement AVR and the lowering of the voting age to 18 from 21.

On October 6, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mas Ermieyati Samsudin told the Dewan Rakyat that Malaysians aged 18 and above who are eligible for voting will be automatically registered as voters by December 31.

This is so that the government abides by the Kuching High Court’s ruling last month that Undi18 and AVR be implemented before year-end.

Meanwhile Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann said the verification process is not compulsory but welcomed the one-month period for people to do so if they wanted.

“The one-month period for voters to verify their names, constituencies and other information is reasonable.”

He said AVR is not dependent on whether a person verifies their information or not.

The bill to lower the voting age to 18 was unanimously passed by MPs in 2019. However, implementation was delayed after the government changed in 2020, and the EC blamed lockdowns due to Covid-19 for hampering its preparations.

Two groups of youths aligned with the Undi18 movement took the matter to court in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching.

The latter court ordered the EC and government to implement the new voting age by the end of the year, while the Kuala Lumpur court will make its decision this Thursday.

However, the government has decided not to appeal the Kuching court’s ruling. – October 17, 2021.