EC pilots digital voter attendance system at Negeri Sembilan polling station

The Election Commission (EC) has begun a pilot project using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system to digitally record voter attendance.

AMPANGAN: The Election Commission (EC) has begun a pilot project using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system to digitally record voter attendance during the Negeri Sembilan state election.

EC chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun said the system was being tested at seven polling streams at SMA Dato Klana Petra Maamor as part of efforts to explore the potential use of digital technology in future elections.

He said the pilot project aimed to assess whether voters’ MyKad information could be used to record attendance digitally, replacing the current manual process.

“This is only an operational pilot project. It does not affect any other election processes,” he told reporters today.

He added that the polling station was selected as it provided a suitable environment to observe different voter demographics, including elderly and younger voters.

“The purpose is to look at different characteristics of voters, including the elderly, young people and others, and evaluate how the system performs,” he said.

Ramlan also said the system had not been implemented nationwide and that the commission would first evaluate the results before considering any further steps.

“We will study the outcome in greater detail and engage with all relevant stakeholders. We will not implement it immediately without getting feedback from all parties involved,” he said.

He added that digital voter registration systems had already been adopted in several countries, but Malaysia would assess their suitability before moving forward.