Last Friday (Nov 29), the Elections Department (ELD) announced a couple of new features that will be rolled out at next year’s General Election (GE) that will enable voters to have a more fuss-free experience.

It will replace hardcopy registers at the polling stations with electronic registration.

Singapore voters can soon simply scan their national registration identity cards (NRICS) with new machines by Smartmatic, which specialises in electronic voting systems.

This means that election officials no longer need to manually find and strike out a voter’s name from a physical register, and this will help cut down registration time from 10 seconds to only 2 seconds.

Ahead of the next GE, ELD will hold at least 40 roadshows at community clubs over several weekends so that voters can familiarise themselves with the new registration process.

New Voting ‘Pens’

A new “self-inking pen” that stamps a cross on the ballot paper will also replace regular pens at polling booths.

These Japan-made instruments are already used by voters in countries such as South Korea and Taiwan.

According to ELD, this new ‘pen’ will allow voters to clearly mark their choice and hopefully help to reduce invalid votes.

It is also very elderly-friendly as it requires minimal pressure to use.

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To check on voting information such as eligibility and polling district, voters can check via the MyInfo government website or the SingPass mobile app.

For updates on election matters, voters can follow ELD’s telegram channel ‘Elections Department (ELD)’, where press statements and gazettes will be posted.

Featured Image Credit: TODAY