PENANG, 22 October 2013 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is introducing the E-Count system in the USM Student Representative Council Election process to be held on 24 October. This system will be used for the first time in all the three campuses – the Main Campus, Health Campus and Engineering Campus – to enhance the ballot counting process and speed up the calculation process which is expected to take only about three hours.

According to the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr. Adnan Hussein, this system had been tested two times through trial runs, the last one on Saturday and found that the system is running smoothly.

“This time the selection process is using the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) forms which will be scanned for the count for a candidate. The system will reject the ballot papers that are spoilt due to vote counts that do not tally for a particular candidate.

“Previously it was done manually as ballot papers had to be inspected to ensure it is not physically damaged such as torn or crumpled to prevent interfering the scanning process,” Adnan said during a special press conference announcing the results of the nomination.

For the 2013/2014 USM Student Representative Council (MPPUSM) elections, there are a total of 31 seats contested for the School Constituency and 9 seats for the General Constituency. Besides, 5 seats are allocated to postgraduates of which three are at the main campus and one each at the Engineering and Health Campuses, therefore in total there are 45 seats contested.

However, a total of 14 candidates won uncontested and they are from five School Constituencies and a General Constituency in the Main Campus, three School Constituencies in the Health Campus, two School Constituencies and one General Constituency (Postgraduate) at the Engineering Campus. Two other candidates are from the School Constituencies for postgraduate candidates at the Main Campus.

The E-Count system is under the supervision of the E-Count Integrity Committee chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Network) and its members comprising technology experts and Legislative Office representatives.

“I hope that this time the selection process will be smooth and the counting process will start at 6.00 p.m. on 24 October and is expected to end three hours later as compared with previous selection process when results were known just after midnight or early morning,” said Adnan.

Adnan also hoped that candidates will abide by all rules and behave maturely and do not compete as a team which is against the existing policies.

“They will be allowed to campaign in public tomorrow night and the day after tomorrow at USM Padang Kawad, and also to campaign in lecture halls as long as they are permitted by the lecturers. However they are not permitted to have a group platform that can cause their candidacy to be revoked,” he added.

According to Adnan, candidates are not allowed to bring in outsiders to campaign and they are also to avoid personal attacks.

“Most importantly, I also expect the candidates to educate their supporters to come out to vote on 24 October and teach them the proper methods so as to ensure that their votes are not disputed or treated as a spoiled vote,” said Adnan.

Students who will be away from the university representing USM at various outdoor activities may also vote early on 23 October for an hour from 9.00 a.m. and their ballots will then be brought to be sealed and be kept at the Security Department until the day of the election, where they will be mixed with the other ballots.

Last year, the percentage of students who came out to vote was less than 50% because for the first time postgraduate students also voted together, and their turn out was very low, thus lowering the overall percentage of voters.

Yet the average undergraduate students who voted in its polls were usually around 60% which is considered a good turn out. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon/Photos: Mohd Fairus Md Isa