Solution to Electoral Roll Problems

About Causal Idea

Causal Idea is a commercial entity, so it tries to be neutral, and attempts to address the concerns raised by various people inside and outside the Malaysian political sphere.

Electoral roll problems

Electoral roll problems have been raised repeatedly. At the same time, the relevant authorities keep insisting they are being solved. People appear to be talking at different frequencies, and very often, severely lacking depths that can lead to solutions. In view of this situation, Causal Idea would like to propose a solution that takes the views of most people into consideration, and which works within constraints.

Opening up a solution proposal

Similar to open source in the computer software world, it is hoped opening up the details of the proposal can help steer Malaysians in the right direction in solving real problems, rather than spending time politicking on every issue, and eventually pretending it is solved when in reality it is the criteria that have been silently changed, giving the illusion that the desired outcome has been realized.

Problems

There are several problems with the electoral roll :

• • Dead voters

  • Wrong voter data, related to wrong IC number, name, gender, address, constituency assignment etc

  • Possibility of voting on behalf of someone else

Solutions

Suggestions so far :

• • Use of indelible ink

  • Manual electoral roll cleaning

  • Electronic voter verification

  • Electronic voting

Causal Idea's view

Some of the suggestions cannot work, while some are too fragile, controversial or expensive to implement.

Causal Idea believes electronic voter verification is the only workable way at this time. VoteKad and similar applications that others can come up with also help to a certain extent in dealing with the problems.

Reservations

However, some people have expressed reservations :

• • Unproven method

  • Voters do not know whether or not their MyKads are still functional

  • What if a MyKad decides to break on the polling day, or a machine does not like someone's thumb

  • Server overloading

  • Network partitions (parts of the voting system network unexpectedly disconnected from the rest)

  • Untrusted electoral roll

Addressing the reservations

As you may have been aware, the Android applications available from this website are making the electronic usage of MyKad an integral part of the daily life of every Malaysian. Virtually anyone can own and use electronic facilities that deal with MyKad, whether in the office, on a street or in the bedroom. So, the concern that a voter does not know whether or not his or her MyKad is still functional no longer holds. As can be seen in the proposal, it is easy to apply a universally-proven unique constraint on identity card numbers, and the association of the numbers with polling stations is publicly known, so the system guarantees voter uniqueness in the adopted electoral roll, and is open to rigorous examination by any interested person. Whether or not the remaining concerns hold, you are welcome to read the design and implementation details in the proposal and arrive at your own conclusion.

Proposal

If the proposal does not appear below, please visit this link :

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7dTmn4AufedR2NoZDBraFFmdG8/edit

Note :

The copyrights of the pictures of MyKad, thumb, computer, POS device, fingerprint reader, SD card duplication machine and SD card in the proposal belong to their respective owners.