What's wrong with fingering voters anyway? (with indelible ink lah)

Here's a fool's statement for ya... an oxymoron if you will (with special emphasis on the 'moron' part).

"We welcome any move to enhance the system but it doesn't mean that the EC should go for outdated procedures" - Deputy Info'n Minister Chia Kwang Chye.

Outdated or not, I think marking the voters with indelible ink is AN EXCELLENT IDEA! Every election is plagued by phantom voters, trucked in voters, dead voters, voters who don't get to vote because someone already voted on their behalf...

What the finger inking will do is ensure that one person = one vote. So, if somebody wants to play dirty and truck in some people from another constituency to vote, those people will either:

(A) not be allowed to vote (because they've already voted in their own constituency and their fingers are inked), or
(B) they can vote here, but lose the ability to vote anywhere else (including their home constituency).

I think the reasons given by BN ie. the govt ie. the people most accused of vote rigging - is weak as piss. If it works, it works! It's cheap, easy to implement and control, and best of all, it's foolproof.

Well... not 100% foolproof. There's always a risk that 'some' people will run around grabbing opposition voters and forcibly dipping their fingers in ink (forfeiting their vote).

Don't go for outdated voting procedures, says Chia

PENANG (June 4, 2007): The current voting system is fair and efficient, and the Election Commission (EC) should opt for up-to-date technology rather than outdated methods if it wants to improve it further, Deputy Information Minister Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye said.

"We welcome any move to enhance the system but it doesn't mean that the EC should go for outdated procedures," he told a news conference in the Bukit Bendera family day carnival here today, reports Bernama.

He was commenting on EC's plan to introduce the use of indelible ink and possibly transparent ballot boxes in the next general election to prevent cheating. EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said on Friday (June 1) that the use of indelible ink had been agreed to in principle.