MELAKA (Oct 7): The Election Commission (EC) will expand the implementation of the pilot optical character recognition-voter attendance (OCR-VA) system to the Melaka state election.

Its chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun said the system would be used at all polling streams in every polling centre across the 28 Melaka state constituencies.

“The OCR-VA system records and marks voters’ attendance automatically by scanning information on identification documents, thereby expediting the verification and recording of attendance, reducing errors in manual marking, and improving the efficiency of election officials and processes on the polling day.

“The EC stresses that the implementation of the OCR-VA pilot project is also part of efforts to digitalise the electoral process without changing the existing voting procedures,” he said.

He said this at a press conference after chairing a special meeting to discuss arrangements and key dates for the Melaka state election here on Wednesday.

Ramlan said under the system, voters would need to present their identification documents to election officials at the polling centre for verification as usual, and then proceed with the voting process according to the existing procedures.

The OCR-VA system was first implemented at the 16th Negeri Sembilan state election on Aug 1, where it was tested for the Ampangan seat at the Sekolah Menengah Agama Dato’ Klana Petra Maamor polling centre for Streams 1 to 7.

Ramlan also said the EC would continue to livestream election processes at selected polling centres/streams on its official Facebook page, as was done in previous elections, including the unofficial results after polling ends.

He said the EC would also conduct the “Jom Kita Undi” campaign through various media channels to encourage voters to come out and fulfil their responsibility.

The Melaka state election will be held on Nov 14, with early voting on Nov 10 and nomination of candidates on Oct 31.

Read also:
Melaka polls on Nov 14

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