Pakatan Harapan’s Sim Tze Tzin said he was “very touched” by the woman’s gesture.

“It shows that there is no excuse not to vote,” the Bayan Baru MP told FMT.

Sim said he knew of youths who returned to Penang from overseas and were on holiday here. However, despite being eligible voters they decided to sit out the polls as it “had nothing to do with them”.

“That’s the kind of apathy that saddens me.”

Unlike the younger voters, the older generation took elections more seriously, the former deputy agriculture and agro-based industry minister said.

With the amendments to the Federal Constitution on automatic voter registration a few years ago, it is no longer a requirement for Malaysians to register before being able to vote.

Earlier, Sim tweeted a picture of the old woman being wheeled into a polling station at the youth and sports complex in Penang.

The woman is said to be a voter in the Batu Uban seat.

She was accompanied by family members and personnel from the St. John Ambulance.

“The aunty is old and sick, yet she still goes to vote despite being on a hospital bed. She is voting for her grandchildren’s future.”

The Election Commission (EC) said voter turnout as of 3pm was around 58% across the six states.

Yesterday, Merdeka Center predicted that the voter turnout for the elections in six states will be lower than that of the 15th general election (GE15) last November.

Its co-founder and programmes director, Ibrahim Suffian, said unlike in the case of GE15, some voters may not bother to return to their hometowns to vote in the state polls as they may think their vote would not change anything.