Initiated by the Undi18 and Gerakan 1thirdMedia movements, the volunteers helped to compile the postal ballots and separate them according to state so that they can be delivered in time to the relevant returning officers by 5pm tomorrow.

“On Aug 1 we started receiving postal ballots from Malaysians in Southeast Asia, and on Aug 2, we began receiving envelopes from other countries,” said Undi18 programme coordinator Diffan Sina Jasmi.

He said the Vote Malaysia initiative first started during the Johor state election in March 2022, but the 15th general election saw volunteers successfully bringing 35,092 postal votes back from overseas.

“This time, we managed to collect 3,495, or 43.8%, of the 7,972 overseas postal ballot papers released by the Election Commission.”

Of the 3,495, 1,511 of these postal ballots came from Singapore.

One volunteer in Singapore, Farrah Diyana Ali said five different collection zones were set up in the republic. The postal votes were then sent to a sorting centre in Kuala Lumpur either by land or air.

“The first dispatch of 1,494 votes was conducted on Aug 9 and the remaining votes were dispatched today through a Malaysia Airlines sponsorship,” she said.

Voters in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu will elect their new state governments tomorrow, while the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election will be held concurrently.