In this age of smart identity cards, digital passports and Touch 'n Go cards, one thing is still behind times - our voter registration process. Every Malaysian citizen who turns 21 has to go and present himself in front of the Election Commission or its agents to register themselves to be eligible to vote.

The process consist of nothing but the lady at the counter re-entering your personal details into the computer system of the Election Commission. Hence the issue then will be why isn't this process automated? All the information that is needed by the EC is available in our National Registration Department (NRD) computers and I see absolutely no reason why this process cannot be automated .

Automated registration has a two distinct benefits:

It ensures that all Malaysians over the age of 21 will be eligible to vote. The current system is simply redundant as it merely involves duplication of information already available in the computer systems of our government.

It would save the EC a lot of money as registration centres will not need to be set up all over the country and commissions will not have to paid to registration agents like POS Malaysia. This money can then be channel to various other programmes such as campaigns against problems such as voter apathy during elections.

Perhaps it is time we actually start using the technology that is available in our hands. I hope the EC would consider taking my suggestion into consideration. It is the public duty of the EC to ensure that as many voters as possible can vote and there is no reason why an automated procedure such as the one I've mentioned cannot be implemented.