Malaysia Election Commission Deploys Pilot OCR System Amid Candidate Protest

The Negeri Sembilan Election Commission (SPR) implemented a pilot Optical Character Recognition Voter Attendance (OCR-VA) system during the recent state election, utilizing mobile phones within polling stations to scan voter identification cards for registration. SPR Chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun described the system as a pilot project designed to improve the efficiency of voter registration.

The OCR-VA system updates attendance information in real-time, capturing details such as the number of votes cast, and the voter's name, gender, and age. Ramlan highlighted that this digital approach aims to minimize errors common in manual registration processes, where polling clerks might misrecord names. He also noted that similar digital registration systems are employed in numerous other countries.

Despite the SPR's efforts to modernize the voting process, the system faced opposition from a Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Ampangan state seat, Datuk Muhammad Nazri Kassim. Nazri lodged a formal protest, arguing that the implementation of the OCR-VA system had not been communicated to him as a candidate. He contended that this lack of prior notification was prejudicial and could potentially disrupt campaign activities on election day.

Ramlan defended the choice of the Sekolah Menengah Agama Dato’ Klana Petra Maamor polling station for the pilot project, citing its diverse voter composition, including the elderly, youth, and individuals from various backgrounds, as suitable for testing the system. He also indicated that the OCR-VA pilot project represents an initial step towards the potential adoption of an electronic voting (e-voting) system in Malaysia in the future.