From the Borneo Post, 3 December 2021: Karim: 18-year-olds who registered as voters before Nov 2 can take part this coming polls
Specifically:
“EC has issued a statement that only those who have registered as voters up until Nov 2 will be eligible. So those who had registered after this date will not be able to cast their vote yet. “But for those who have turned 18 and had registered before Nov 2, they can become voters. That’s how I look at it,” the state Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister told a press conference here yesterday.
The question: Can Sarawakians registered before 2 Nov 2021 vote in the 12th Sarawak State Election?
Short answer: no
The 12th Sarawak State Election was de facto called on 3 Nov 2021, when the State of Emergency holding the state government up was cancelled.
On 12 Nov 2021, the Electoral Commission announced that "a special meeting on the 12th Sarawak state election" to "discuss, among others, the important dates for the election", and the subsequent press conference will be held on 24 Nov 2021.
On 24 Nov 2021, the press conference announced that for the 12th Sarawak state election will use the Supplementary Electoral Roll (DPT) of Second Quarter 2021 (ST2/2021).
So what is the Second Quarter 2021 Supplementary Electoral Roll?
On 2 Aug 2021, the Electoral Commission announced that the Second Quarter 2021 Supplementary Electoral Roll would be put out for display for 14 days, from 3 Aug - 16 Aug 2021. To quote from the statement of the time:
EC secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak said the Q2/2021 RDPT contained 44,321 new voter registration applications from eligible Malaysian citizens and 21,567 applications for a change in voting constituencies from voters registered April 1 to June 30.
In other words, it only includes people who registered in the 2nd quarter of 2021, and those who had been on the electoral roll previously.
People who registered as a voter between 1 July to 30 Sept, will not be part of thosse eligible to vote, as they would be part of the Third Quarter 2021 Supplementary Electoral Roll, which historically is only gazetted in December.
Those who registered between 1 Oct - 2 Nov 2021, will be in the 4th Quarter 2021 Supplementary Electoral Roll, which has not been processed yet, let alone gazetted.
Conclusion: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who has been described as a "lawyer by training", is incorrect.
Only people who registered until 30 June 2021 will be able to vote in the 12th Sarawak State election.
