BERSIH is urging the Election Commission (EC) to set up advance voting centres in each state to allow those who are living in other states the chance to cast their votes in the next general election.

Its chairman Thomas Fann said the EC should allow out-of-region voters, especially Sabahans and Sarawakians living in the Peninsula, to cast their ballots. 

Fann said advance voting centres will help those who cannot fly back home to their constituencies with their own money to cast their votes.

“We are urging that voters be given absentee voting rights and be provided with advance voting facilities three days before polling day.

“Bersih advocates for advance voting rather than postal voting because of the (higher) likelihood of vote-buying in the latter,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had announced that the general election will be held soon. 

He urged everyone to work as if elections will be held tomorrow. 

Fann said that another proposal to the EC is to allow all overseas voters to download a PDF version of their ballots on the MySPR portal.

This, he said, is more effective than using the archaic method of printing ballots, stuffing them into envelopes and sending them via traditional postal services. 

“This (postal) method results in delays in receiving the ballots and missing the polling day deadline.”

Fann said that according to the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Department’s 2019 data, the population of the Malaysian diaspora stands at 1,730,152.

“Conservatively, we believe that there are at least one million Malaysians who are residing overseas but are eligible to vote.”

On how long the campaign period should be, Fann said that unless postal voting is reformed to allow for the download of PDF ballots, the minimum campaign period should be 21 days.

This, he said, is so mailed ballots can reach returning officers in time. 

“If the EC allows for the download of postal ballots, the minimum (campaign) can be reduced to 15 days.” 

He added that over the years, Bersih has advocated for various reforms from the EC, and up till 2018, only the use of indelible ink was adopted.

“But since GE14, we have seen the implementation of Undi18, automatic voter registration, and electoral rolls with problematic entries like deceased voters were cleaned up.

“And the extension of postal voting for Malaysians residing in neighbouring countries like Singapore, South Thailand, Brunei and Kalimantan were implemented.” – August 13, 2022.