PENAMPANG: DAP Sabah said it has received many complaints from voters in the state claiming that their names have gone missing from the electoral rolls.
Its candidate for the Likas state seat, Junz Wong, told reporters that DAP had also received numerous complaints from those who have found out that there are discrepancies in the spelling of their names on the electoral rolls.
“Then, there are those who have never registered as voters before but were surprised when they checked the electoral roll out of curiosity, and found that their names were on it,” he said during a press conference at the DAP headquarters here yesterday.
Junz said the Election Commission (EC) has a moral responsibility to explain why this had happened. All these discrepancies are giving weight to talks that this 13th general election is going to be the dirtiest one so far, he claimed.
“We are beginning to feel that the EC is going to perform some ‘magic’ to make the names disappear,” he said, adding that there are some cases where those who found out that they are now registered voters have vowed to actually go and cast their votes on May 5.
One of those in this situation is actually working in Singapore and had told Junz that he will come home to vote.
On the spelling discrepancies of voters’ names in the electoral roll, Junz said that it was unacceptable and is a serious matter that needs to be resolved immediately.
Although the identity card numbers match, the names are either wrongly spelt, or have added alphabets or alias added, he pointed out.
“So this means that the person will not be able to vote on polling day and maybe a phantom voter would be doing it in their stead. So we urge all those who are in this situation to just go and try to vote on polling day.
“If their attempt fails, then seek assistance from DAP agents at the polling centres as they would have been briefed about the situation. The agents will try to ensure that they get to vote or that any attempts by another individual to vote using the name on the electoral roll will be prevented from doing so,” he said.
Junz also wants the Election Commission to explain to them and the people who are in this dilemma why and how this could have happened.
“The electoral rolls were gazetted last month so there is no way to amend the list,” he said.
He also expressed hope that the police will be cooperative if and when they refer any suspected ‘phantom’ voters to them for further action. This is because the police are supposed to be neutral in order to ensure that the true process of democracy is carried out. #myvote13 #ge13