EC chairman Azhar Harun said now that 18-year-olds are allowed to vote, numbers are expected to increase by over seven million voters, to 22.7 million from 14.9 million in GE14.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event at Universiti Sains Malaysia today, he said the EC could rent halls and even set up voting tents.

“We must see how we can cope with the increased numbers,” he said. “Schools are not enough for polling centres.”

He said the EC is also looking to split voters into new polling districts (PDMs) as allowed under the law.

“We will do this once a PDM has too many voters,” he added.

“We will allow them to spill over into a new PDM.”

According to Azhar, there are four million unregistered voters above 21 and 1.5 million who are 18.

The group of 18-year-old voters is expected to increase by 500,000 each year until GE15, bringing the total number to 3.8 million by 2023.

He said while the government has allowed the automatic registration of voters, the EC needs time to assign voters to localities or constituencies. He estimated that this would take 18 to 24 months.

He also urged voters to ensure that their addresses are up to date.

“In Kuala Lumpur, there are still active voters with addresses at the former Sulaiman Courts, the present location of Sogo supermarket. There are also people with addresses at Pekeliling Flats.

“But this does not mean they are phantom voters or that the electoral roll is dirty. It is just that the addresses have not been updated,” he said.

When asked if borders could be redrawn for state seats where voters outnumber those in parliamentary constituencies, he said nothing could be done for now.

He said the redelineation exercise takes place every eight years, with the last occurring in March 2018.

If the Parliament or state assemblies decide to increase the number of seats, he added, then the EC can redraw the boundaries.

On elected representatives detained under anti-terrorism laws, he said they can only be disqualified if the court sentences them to jail or fines them RM2,000 or more.

As for rumours of a state election in Perak following visits by EC officers, he said there was no such thing.

He said his officers had merely been scouting for new venues for polling centres.

“I know some people are trying to connect the dots over local issues in the state and, given our visit, are fuelling the rumours.

“This is like a Sherlock Holmes story, only that Holmes is wrong on this one.”