I read Jarrod Daniel's experiences in The day I was a polling agent with great interest. As a presiding officer ( ketua tempat mengundi ) for the just concluded general election, I wish to respond and also relate my experiences and assure everyone that not all polling officers are biased in carrying out their mandated duties.

I agree with Jarrod that voter numbers (IDs) should not be written on the counterfoil of the ballot. The serial number printed on each ballot and its counterfoil should suffice to weed out 'phantom voter'. The Election Commission (EC) should discontinue the practice of writing the voter IDs on the counterfoil which leads to suspicion that the voters can be traced.

As for the case of where a different gender is stated in the electoral roll vis a vis the identity card, it could have been a case of genuine typing mistake in the electoral roll. The presiding officer should have pointed that out instead of blaming the error on the National Registration Department.

In the case where a different gender is listed in the electoral roll, it could easily be solved by checking the last digit of the identity card number. Odd numbers are for males, and even numbers are for females. If there is a genuine mistake, the presiding officer should have asked the person to fill in the oath of identity form ( Borang 11 ).

At my polling station, I saw at least five cases where the details in the identity card differed from the roll supplied to the presiding officer and polling clerk. One woman even had four digits of her IC number different from that entered in the roll. The handbook for presiding officers stated that if the name and IC numbers differed by more than one digit or letter, the polling officer is required to ask the person concerned to fill in Borang 11 before he or she is allowed to vote.

In each case, after determining that the mistake was genuine, I asked the person concerned to fill in Borang 11 and allowed the person to vote. That is the correct procedure. Sometimes, problems occur when the polling clerk does not bother with procedures or worse, does not read the handbook supplied by the EC.

A few times at my station, a person showed up without an IC and wanted to vote. One even showed a copy of a police report stating that he lost his IC that day. Two persons tried to vote using the same identity card number, but did not produce the IC or any other identification. They were not allowed to vote because there was no way to ascertain their true identity.

At lunch, one person offered food and drinks to the staff at my station and told me that they were sponsored by a certain political party. We were tired and hungry, but I put the food aside and got a colleague to buy lunch using money supplied by the EC. Perhaps in future the EC should supply lunch to polling station staff to avoid putting us in a difficult position.

I tried to be as fair as possible in carrying out my work. However, at times a presiding officer also suffers from the confrontational attitude adopted by the polling agents. A colleague had a harrowing time with his polling and counting agent who raised a lot of objections and made life miserable for everyone.

The pressure on the presiding officer and polling clerks is great as I experienced it myself. We worked non-stop from 7am till 5pm, made sure everything went smoothly, faced all kinds of situations and people, and immediately thereafter had to begin counting the votes besides filling in tonnes of forms.

It was a good thing the polling agents at my station were cooperative and understanding. We did not encounter any problems with them.

Regarding the controversy surrounding the missing 108 votes at the Bukit Bintang parliamentary constituency in Kuala Lumpur, the television footage showed that the ballot box was not sealed in the correct manner.

The box at Bukit Bintang was only sealed with a security sticker, whereas the EC handbook requires double knots to be fastened at the mouth and the metal clasps of the ballot box sealed with a security tag and signed by the presiding officer and the counting agents if they so wish. A metal clip should also be fastened at the metal clasp.

Finally, I find briefings given by the Election Commission to us not comprehensive enough to allow election staff to carry out their work properly. A lot of grey areas are left for us to handle on our own. The EC should buck up on this matter.