KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia should follow in the footsteps of countries like neighbouring Indonesia, India, Germany, Canada and the United States, which offer postal voting to domestic voters who are unable to cast their ballots in person on polling day, said election watchdog Engage.
However, such voters would have to request special ballots in advance.
Engage chairman Thomas Fann said it was a missed opportunity for the Election Commission (EC) not to have expanded domestic postal voting over the years, despite persistently low voter turnout in by-elections.
He stressed that voting reform should be urgently considered for voters from Sabah and Sarawak living in the peninsula, and vice versa – as an estimated 500,000 voters are forced to bear significant costs just to return home and vote during elections.
“The commission should explore expanding absentee voting rights to out-of-state voters, as it has been doing so for some time with overseas voters,” he told Scoop when contacted.
“This would ease access to voting for many voters who may be unduly inconvenienced if they have to travel long distances to vote.”
Fann urged the EC to begin by piloting domestic postal voting during by-elections, which would allow the process to be fine-tuned before the higher-volume general elections.
“By using by-elections to fine-tune the postal voting process, they can be better prepared to handle the much larger volume during general elections,” he said.
The Ayer Kuning by-election held in Perak on April 26 recorded a turnout of just 58%, continuing a trend of reduced participation in recent by-elections.
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%.
Fann said low turnout for by-elections is not unusual and is often driven by factors such as voter disillusionment and confidence in the security of incumbent governments.
Currently, postal voting is allowed for personnel and family members of the armed forces and police, overseas voters, media personnel, election officers, and members of nine government agencies approved by the EC.
Electoral reform group Bersih recently told Scoop that it supports expanding postal voting. Chairman Faisal Abdul Aziz said Bersih has long advocated for early voting for Sabahans and Sarawakians studying or working in the peninsula, and vice versa.
However, Tindak Malaysia director Danesh Prakash Chacko disagreed, arguing that postal voting would not address the problem of low by-election turnout, which he believes is not tied to voting access.
Fann acknowledged that expanding postal or advance voting would require additional spending and logistics by the EC.
“But the exercise of democracy should not be impeded by cost. It is the duty of the EC to do its best to facilitate ease of voting for all eligible voters.” – May 4, 2025