KUALA LUMPUR – The Ayer Kuning by-election in Perak last Saturday recorded a low turnout rate of 58%, joining other recent by-elections that have also seen reduced participation.
In 2024, the Sg Bakap by-election in Penang recorded 63%, the Mahkota by-election in Johor saw 53.84%, and the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election in Selangor recorded a turnout of 61.5%.
Meanwhile, the 2023 Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections, held simultaneously in Johor, saw turnouts of 47% and 61% respectively. The only anomalies were the Pelangai by-election in 2023, which recorded 70%, and the Nenggiri by-election in Kelantan last year, which saw 73.88%.
This trend of low voter participation has raised a question: should postal voting – currently provided to police, armed forces personnel, overseas voters, and certain other groups – be expanded to outstation voters as well, to improve turnout?
Electoral reform group Bersih appears receptive to the idea. Its chairman, Faisal Abdul Aziz, said the group has been advocating for advance voting for Sabahans and Sarawakians who are studying or working in the peninsula, and vice versa.
On implementation, Faisal said the Election Commission (EC) could expand postal voting for outstation voters by setting up a centre where these voters can cast their ballots in advance.
“The (ballot) counting process would take place on the same day with (ballots cast by) other ordinary voters,” he told Scoop when contacted.
Faisal also noted that with the Sabah elections approaching, Bersih will be urging the commission to extend postal voting to outstation voters. He added that the group had submitted this proposal to the deputy prime minister II in July last year.
However, Tindak Malaysia director Danesh Prakash Chacko believes that expanding postal voting is not the solution to low by-election turnouts, as he argues the issue is unrelated to voting access.
Danesh said turnout levels are influenced by factors such as urbanisation, ethnicity, mobilisation, and the perceived importance of the election. He also pointed out that the 2023 Pelangai by-election registered a turnout of 72% despite 30% of voters living outside the Pahang constituency.
“Expansion of postal vote should be targeted for Sabah, Labuan, and Sarawakian voters who reside outside the region, or peninsula Malaysians residing in East Malaysia,” he told Scoop when contacted.
Hurdles in expanding postal voting
Faisal said whether postal voting can be expanded to outstation voters depends on the EC’s willingness to implement it.
In February, former EC deputy chairman Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Wan Omar was reported as saying that expanding postal voting for Sabahans living out of state in the upcoming elections would be difficult, due to the high volume of voters and the complex process of distributing and returning ballots, especially in rural areas.
Meanwhile, Danesh said expanding postal voting to outstation voters would require a longer campaigning period and increase the EC’s costs in issuing postal ballots.
“(There is) no certainty that the majority of outstation voters will exercise this option. (Additionally, there is a) need to establish whether one is truly residing outside the constituency and verifying such information,” he added. – April 30, 2025