KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 ― Electoral advocacy group Undi Johor today launched the Ops Undi Johor campaign to assist voters living outside the state fulfil their democratic duty and vote in the coming state elections.

In a press conference today, Undi18 co-founder Qyira Yusri said that the campaign will focus on two aspects; the first of which is facilitating the transport of postal votes from Singapore.

"Undi Johor is hereby offering the Election Commission (EC) in transporting postal vote ballots from Singapore back to Malaysia. More details about this initiative will be announced closer to the nomination date,” she said.

The second initiative under the campaign is the Pulang Mengundi fund, which serves to subsidise the transport cost of students and youths who are returning to Johor to vote.

This comes after the demands by the nonpartisan initiative to the EC on February 8 ― demanding an establishment of overseas polling stations, enabling early voting on campus for students and enabling postal voting for Johoreans in Sabah and Sarawak ― were not met.

"EC has not shown any indication of improving the election process in Malaysia ever since the pandemic started. Johor election is not the first state election that was held during the pandemic.

"Postal voting procedures shall be amended to ensure overseas Malaysians can participate in the electoral process. The continuous failure of leadership under chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani is a shame to the entire commission,” she said.

Qyira added that Undi Johor would welcome volunteers who are interested in supporting the initiatives and can find more information on their website.

She also urged overseas Malaysians living in nearby regions to register as postal voters before February 18 to fulfil their democratic responsibility.

"We once again call upon the EC to consider allowing Malaysians overseas to cast their votes or drop the ballot at embassies so that embassies then facilitate the transportation of ballots back to Malaysia.

"EC needs to be responsible to make the process of voting easier for voters and not by limiting their registration days and asking voters to mail back their ballots,” she said.

The introduction of Undi18 and automatic voter registration will see around 750,000 new voters in Johor. Voters aged between 18 and 20 make up close to 175,000.

Yesterday, the EC announced that the polling for the 15th Johor state election would be on March 12, while the nomination on February 26 and early voting on March 8.

Its chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh said the EC, together with the Health Ministry and the National Security Council were in the midst of finalising the SOP for the state election to curb the spread of Covid-19.