KUCHING: Every vote is secret and voters have no reason to worry about who they are rooting for, said Datu Takun Sunggah.
As such, the state Election Commission (EC) director, who stressed this on Thursday, called upon voters in Sarawak to exercise their rights on May 9.
“Bring your IC (MyKad) and come out to vote. Do not worry about your vote because it is secret.
“Nobody will know who you’re voting for,” he said during an interview at his office in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here.
Takun said the state EC targeted a turnout of at least 75 per cent on polling day.
The 2016 state election, which was held on May 7, a Saturday, registered a turnout of 66.13 per cent.
This year’s May 9 falls on a Wednesday, which is a working day for most Malaysians in and outside the country.
According to Takun, political parties, be they from the ruling or opposition coalitions, have played an active role in appealing to the electorate to cast their votes.
It was observed in past elections, some political parties helped ferry voters from their residences to polling stations to boost voter turnout.
Even though the EC will set up a booth at polling stations with more than one polling stream for voters to check their status on May 9, Takun advised voters to do a status check before going to the polls.
“If they check their status before the polling day, they won’t need to queue up at the booth.
“Once they know the stream number, they can go straight to the stream to cast their votes,” he said.