High Turnout, Wrong Address: Johor’s Complicated Election Day

Turnout surged past last cycle’s pace despite severe weather warnings, while a last-minute polling centre change in Yong Peng left elderly voters making wasted trips on election day.

Facebook: Naz Azra Sabtu/Wee Ka Siong

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Johor’s state election day began on a calm note in some areas, with thunderclouds threatening parts of the state, yet voters still turned out in greater numbers than the last election despite weather warnings of heavy rain and strong winds until 3 pm.

With more than 300,000 voters expected to travel back to Johor to cast their ballots, the stakes around weather and turnout were all the more real.

By 1 pm, 42.16% of registered voters — just over 1.13 million people — had cast their ballots.

At the same point during the previous Johor state election, turnout stood at 34.51%, or roughly 889,000 voters.

The Election Commission (EC) reported the highest participation in Semarak and Seri Lalang, both at 50.5%, followed by Tanjung Sura at 48.6%.

Pengerang recorded the lowest at 32.2%.

Confusion in Yong Peng

Not all of polling day ran smoothly.

In Yong Peng, a Chinese-majority seat, the EC made last-minute changes to polling centres and stream assignments, redirecting some voters — particularly the elderly — from their usual secondary school locations to primary schools instead.

Some voters from the same household were assigned to different centres.

MCA’s Yong Peng state seat incumbent and candidate Ling Tian Soon told reporters that the changes had caused confusion on the ground, with affected voters only discovering the switch upon arrival at their original polling stations.

We checked the polling locations last week, and by today, they had already changed. Some voters who have always voted at the same place were suddenly assigned to another school.

EC Under Fire Over Last-Minute Changes

Ling estimated that more than 1,000 voters were affected.

Isolated cases of voters being misdirected due to identical road names were also reported.

MCA president and Ayer Hitam MP Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, who cast his vote at SK Yong Peng at around 1.35 pm, said he had not encountered a similar situation in five previous elections and called on the EC to review its procedures.

Despite the disruptions, he remained optimistic about the day’s overall turnout.