Going to great lengths to woo Undi18 voters in Johor polls

JOHOR BAHRU: Come March 12, a total of 173,177 youths aged between 18 and 20 are eligible to cast their ballots in the Johor state election, making them the first in this age group to vote in elections in Malaysia.

Aware of the significance of this development, candidates in the Johor polls are going out of their way to not only introduce themselves to this cohort but also to educate and guide them on the need to fulfil their responsibility as voters.

And short videos for sharing on social media are among the more popular means adopted by candidates to reach out to these young voters.

Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) candidate for the Bukit Permai seat, Azrol Rahani, said he is using videos to explain voting procedures to young voters in the constituency.

"Some of those in the 18 to 20 age group may not even be aware that they are eligible to vote or where their polling locations are," he told Bernama.

"Apart from visiting public places like restaurants, night markets and football fields, I have been using this approach to create awareness among them to go out and fulfil their responsibility to pick the new state government," he added.

The Barisan Nasional candidate for Larkin, Mohd Hairi Mad Shah, has also produced videos to teach these first-time voters the correct way to mark their ballots and check their particulars on the Election Commission (EC) website.

"This is the most suitable approach because from field studies and random phone calls, we found that some young people are not aware that they can now vote," he said.

Johor's KITA Community youth organisation founder Raden Mohammad Azwan Naharudin said the publicity on polling procedures would also encourage young people to go out and cast their ballots.

"If the voter turnout among young people is low, it means political parties fail in their role to explain the polling process.

"With just a couple of days to go before polling, political parties can continue to aggressively disseminate effective content to encourage them to vote and explain the basis for making their choice of candidates," he said.

Political analyst Dr Mazlan Ali said young voters should not be equated with veteran voters as the former need guidance on voting procedures, apart from information to help them evaluate candidates.

"The younger set should be convinced that they may well turn out to be the kingmakers in hotly contested seats.

"If their (young voters) turnout exceeds 80 per cent, it will certainly have a major impact on the outcome," said the senior lecturer from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Out of the 56 seats up for grabs in the polls, Puteri Wangsa has the highest number from this age group with 11,157 voters, followed by Kota Iskandar (10,941), Tiram (10,613), Permas (8,994), Perling (7,859), Johor Jaya (6,446) and Skudai (5,949).

They will be making their electoral debut following the passing of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and provided for automatic voter registration at the age of 18 under the Undi18 initiative.

-- BERNAMA