Much has been said and written about the Election Commission (EC) and the woes it has been facing.

I have designed and implemented systems which are largely IT (information technology) based. What baffles me is the perennial problem of phantom voters and the hay-wire system of polling stations vis-a-vis the addresses of voters.

This was believed to be the prime cause for some voters not being able to vote on polling day despite the fact that they have been confirmed as registered voters. Incidentally, my wife was one of them and the poor lady had to queue up at six booths (one after another) but her name was nowhere to be found.

We have had voted at the same place before. My name was still there and both of us have the same address. The clarification by the Selangor EC chief was at best hollow when he said that the voters' names were shifted to polling stations nearest their residence for their convenience,

Now, back to where I started. Having designed and implemented systems, I can think of some obvious reasons why the EC is a victim of voter manipulation. Unlike countries like India and Sri Lanka, we have an excellent identification system for citizens through our National Registration Identity Card (NRIC).

Our voting eligibility is based on this ID verification. And when you want to check your voter status through the EC home page you just enter your ID number and there it is. It is, then, baffling how could phantom voters could ever appear.

Either the voter registration system by the EC is erroneous or there is a deliberate intention to have phantom voters. It is actually very simple to design a safe-proof voter registration and verification system but whether there is a will to do this is another matter altogether. Is it only a boast that we are somewhat leading the region in IT through the Multimedia Super Corridor?

Even on the issue of voters with different addresses and/or change in addresses, I just cannot understand why there is a problem. The way EC is magnifying it is as if voters are going to be sent to the moon.

So, EC, please stop telling us stories and start cleaning up the mess, once and for all.