Negeri Sembilan Election Deploys New OCR-VA Voter Attendance System

A pilot Optical Character Recognition Voter Attendance (OCR-VA) system was used during the 16th Negeri Sembilan state election in Malaysia. The system scans voters' MyKad, records real‑time attendance and cross‑checks the information against the official Election Commission (SPR) database, without logging any candidate choices. Elderly voters reported that the process – handing over the ID, having it scanned, then providing a fingerprint – was quick and straightforward, helping to speed up verification at polling stations.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders, including Datuk Seri Amiruddin Harun and candidate Datuk Muhammad Nazri Kassim, complained they received no prior notice of the new technology, warning that it could cause delays and prejudice. They lodged a formal objection with SPR, urging that any new voting procedures be discussed with candidates in advance.