E-voting system open to abuse, say campus students

Polling season in campus have begun amid controversies of the introduction of electronic voting system in three more major universities.

A group of students today held a press conference in Bagan Pinang (where campaigning of a local by-election is currently taking place) to voice their dissatisfactions over e-voting.

Some have called their actions of complaints as a "cheap political gimmick".

The Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) had implemented the new election mechanism in 2004 for voting of campus posts.

However, due to objections by students and NGOs, electronic voting was not implemented in all universities.

Nevertheless, the system has been successfully executed for the past four years in Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) although there was protest against it when it was first introduced.

There have been mixed reaction from students. Those against the system said e-voting lacked transparency and proper monitoring.

The system, they claimed, was not stable and is susceptible to abuses. They also feared that it could be easily be tampered with due to hacking and security issues.

Further, the current manual voting system had not caused any problem and many could not understand the rational behind the need to change a perfectly workable system.

'E-voting more efficient'

Some believed that the electronic system has taken out the festive-spirit of the manual election where there was physical attendance at polling stations.

Another more radical viewpoint was the students felt the government wanted to influence the outcome of the election, therefore resorting to the electronic system they claimed was easier to manipulate.

This to them is the repression of democracy and usurping their right to vote.

Meanwhile, some student leaders agreed with the authority and they believed the system will be more efficient and it is time for the manual system to be upgraded to technology based.

Accessibility of internet will encourage students to be able to vote wherever they are and the convenience will result in more students voting.

Consequently, the students will be able to obtain the outcome of the election faster.

One of the student leaders who had the opportunity to try the pilot feels that it was very competent and stable. In addition, the electronic system will reduce the spoilt votes which are common in manual voting.

At the end of the day, both sides stressed on the importance to have a fair and just election. They want to be able to exercise their freedom to vote in a democratic environment.

Most importantly they feel that the election committee should be considered independent and transparent to ensure that their rights are protected.