GE14 | Election Commission chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah gave his assurance today that ballot papers issued to voters without the EC stamp could also be counted as valid votes.

Hashim told a press conference in Putrajaya that the EC has received one complaint on this, and he went on to assure voters that the returning officer at the polling centre has the discretion to accept such ballot papers.

"The returning officer is there and so are the polling agents of the candidates there to witness it. Hence, it is assured that these ballots would be considered," he said.

The EC chief also said that if ballot papers for the federal or state seats were put in the wrong boxes, these would also be sorted out during the counting process, in the presence of the returning officer.

Hashim also said that there would be no extension of time for polling, with the voting period to end at 5pm. The gazetted time for voting is from 8am to 5pm.

Read more: Voting ends at 5pm, no extension

"We have to follow the gazetted time," he said.

As at 1pm, a total of 55 percent of voters had turned up to vote, nationwide.

Long queues in the morning

The EC chief also said there have been long queues at polling centres in the morning. The EC initially expected staggered voting to take place at the polling centres.

"There are three factors causing the convergence of voters to come out and vote early and causing the long queues.

"Firstly, it is due to viral messages that people should come and vote early, as there has been fear of rain in the afternoon, and also because of the people’s eagerness to vote," he said.

There have also been messages going viral, Hashim said, that if the voters do not come out early to vote, then somebody would vote for them.

"The EC strongly denies this allegation. That is why we are expecting a turnout of 85 percent this time around," he added.

Hashim said the EC would open more polling booths if needed and should the situation arise.

He explained that it had checked out the schools used as polling centres and in some instances, all three floors of the school buildings were being used to locate the polling booths.

Hashim also expressed his condolences on the two deaths reported to have occurred at polling centres today.