State polls: Ballot boxes start to arrive at vote tallying centres

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Ballot boxes for the six state elections started arriving at the official vote tallying centres after the voting process officially ended at 6pm.

The voting centres were closed in stages, from 1pm to 6pm, according to their locations.

Election workers in Terengganu used a helicopter to bring ballot boxes from the Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Pulau Redang voting centre to the official vote tallying centre, at Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Dato Razali Ismail, Batu Rakit, at 4.45pm.

There are a total of 1,307 registered voters on Pulau Redang, which is in the Batu Rakit state seat, and the SK Pulau Redang voting centre on the island was closed at 3pm.

In Selangor, the vote tallying centre for the Hulu Kelang state seat, at MPAJ Multipurpose Hall, AU2, Keramat, received the first ballot box at 6.30pm.

In Kedah, the official vote tallying centre for the Jeneri state seat at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA) Sik also received the first ballot box at about 6.30pm, which is an early ballot box.

Boxes containing early and postal votes were also the first to arrive at Kolej MARA Kuala Nerang, which is the official vote tallying centre for the Kuala Nerang and Pedu state seats.

In the meantime, tallying for early votes in some constituencies began at 4pm, and was broadcast live via the Election Commission’s (EC) Facebook page.

According to the EC, as of 4 this afternoon, Terengganu recorded the highest voter turnout, with 70 per cent, followed by Kedah (68 per cent), Penang (67 per cent), Selangor (65 per cent), Negeri Sembilan (62 per cent) and Kelantan (56 per cent).

For the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, which was held simultaneously, the voter turnout recorded, as of 4pm, was 67 per cent.

A total of 3,190 polling stations, with 17,048 voting channels, were opened from 8 this morning in six states holding their state elections, while 41 polling centres, involving 217 voting channels, were opened at the same time for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, in Terengganu.

According to the EC, there were a total of 9,773,571 registered voters for the state elections in Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan, consisting of 9,674,456 ordinary voters; 49,660 army members and personnel, and their spouses; 47,728 police and General Operations Force (GOF) personnel, and their spouses and 1,727 overseas absentee voters. — Bernama