Malaysians have banded together to bring some 7,000 ballot papers from Singapore to Johor for the state election tomorrow.
Some 39 volunteers, all Malaysians working in the island republic, have been collecting the ballot papers from registered postal voters over the past few days.
Mohd Hafeez A Jaz, 36, was among the people tasked to deliver the ballot papers to Johor.
“The task of collecting the ballot papers was divided into the south, north, east, west and central areas in Singapore.
“This is the second batch of ballot papers that we have delivered to Johor,” he said after handing over the papers to Undi18 volunteer Mandeep Singh at the Larkin Bus station yesterday.
“We will deliver the final batch on Friday.
“So far, about 5,000 ballot papers have been delivered and we hope to deliver about 7,000 altogether,” said the volunteer.
Mohd Hafeez, an engineer in Singapore for over three years, said he was honored to be given the responsibility of carrying the ballot papers.
“I don’t see this as a burden. It is my responsibility as a Malaysian to help fellow citizens.
“I am proud to be part of this historic moment where the ballot papers are being delivered through the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) for the first time,” he added.
Mandeep said the ballot papers would be sorted out based on the respective seats before being delivered to the Election Commission (EC) returning officers.
“We will sort the ballot papers out at our office before submitting them today. The volunteers in Singapore have set up collection booths, some have contacted voters directly or picked up the papers from offices,” he said, adding that they have been using social media to reach out to the postal voters.
The EC had earlier announced that some 7,814 people have registered to be postal voters.