Supplementary Voter Lists 2008q1 and 2007q4

Background: What happens to the electoral roll every quarter?

About 15-30 days after the end of a quarter, SPR will publish changes to the electoral roll to allow the public to review them at post offices, as well as online at http://www.spr.gov.my/index/pamer_rang.htm. These 222 PDF files will be removed after about 2 weeks. SPR's Bahasa Malaysia Web site is more updated than the English site.

I've used some programs and scripts to extract the data into a database. You cannot use Adobe Reader's "Save As" command, because that output loses information about how the right columns are separated by spaces, tabs, etc.

The 2008 first quarter supplemental voter list is now available. I call this set of data "spr2008q1." I have also downloaded the PDF files for 2007 4th quarter, and call this set of data "spr2007q4."

I will post quick overviews of spr2008q1 (data from after the 12th General election), and some comparison with spr2007q4 (data from before the election).

What are the changes?

To begin with, we need to know what types of changes are reflected in the quarterly supplementary electoral rolls. Both ADDITIONs and DELETIONs are included, and some rows may offset the other rows. For example, one voter can move OUT from one locality, and move INTO another, and will appear twice in this list.

The ADDITIONs are reflected in the first 2 types below (types 11 nd 12). The rest are DELETIONs. The "changeType" code in the left column is MALVU's own numbering system, and is not created by the SPR. These changes were compiled from 2007q4 and 2008q1; there may be more types of changes that did not occur in these 2 quarters.

change Type	changeTypeText (SPR text)	changeTypeExplanation (Malvu explanation)
11	PENDAFTARAN BARU	Addition into list - New registration
12	PENDAFTARAN TUKAR ALAMAT	Addition into list - Change of address registration (move in)
31	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - PENGENALAN DIRI TIDAK LENGKAP	Deletion from list - Identification not complete
32	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - PEMILIH BERTUKAR ALAMAT	Deletion from list - Voter change address (move out)
33	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - KEMATIAN	Deletion from list - Death
34	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - HILANG KELAYAKAN SEBAGAI PENGUNDI POS	Deletion from list - Loss of eligibility as postal voter
35	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - DILUCUTKAN KEWARGANEGARAAN	Deletion from list - Loss of citizenship
36	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - BERSARA POLIS/ TENTERA	Deletion from list - Retired from police or army
37	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - MASUK TENTERA	Deletion from list - Enter into army
38	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - SILAP PENDATAAN	Deletion from list - Data mistakes
39	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - MASUK POLIS	Deletion from list - Enter into police
40	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - PERGI KE LUAR NEGERI	Deletion from list - Gone out of country
41	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - PULANG DARI LUAR NEGERI	Deletion from list - Return from out of country
42	PENANDAAN PEMOTONGAN - TENTERA DI RAGUI	Deletion from list - Army in doubt (?)
99	OTHERS	Others

Alternative title for SPR2008q1: Rang Daftar Pemilih Tambahan Untuk Suku Pertama Tahun 2008 (1 JANUARI - 31 MAC). Short name for these set of data compiled by MALVU from SPR sources: "spr2008q1" and "spr2007q4."
Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Data Sharing and Privacy Protection

I'm glad to share data, but I also need to protect voters' privacy

One of the first issues with publishing voter list analysis is the protection of privacy of the voters. On one hand, we need to publish enough details for you to check/duplicate my observations. On the other hand, we need to minimize exposing too much voter data unnecessarily.

In the data tables for this blog, I will include just enough data for you to be able to check on SPR's verification Website, or for you to check if you have a hardcopy/PDF/MsAcces copy of SPR file. Most of the time, you will be able to check through:

1. New or old IC, to be checked on SPR Website, or

2. A full locality code, eg, 0010203004, a NoSiri, and a SPR-publication date, which will be adequate for checking through the hardcopy/PDF/MsAccess data files published by SPR.

SPR verification Web URL keeps changing. Older gazetted database will also be replaced with newer gazetted versions. It currently shows the voters list gazetted on 2008 Feb 5.

You can try one of these SPR URLs:
http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarj/
http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarbi.aspx
http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarbi.asp
http://www.spr.gov.my/index/pagemulahtml.htm (left column)

Asking me for detailed data

If you represent SPR, an election-monitoring NGO, political party, academician, or journalist with proper editorial control, you can leave a comment to request the data. But I may need some introduction or endorsement from other reputable sources before I give out too much voter details.

You can also request that I check certain interesting pattern on the database, then write about it for this blog.

We also have the quarterly supplementary voter changes published by SPR in PDF format for 2007q4 and 2008q1 that you can check with.
Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Introduction - About This Blog

Strictly speaking, this is not a Web log or diary. Rather, this blog format will just make it easier for me to post a series of analysis of voter data sourced from the SPR (Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya, or EC, Election Commission, http://www.spr.gov.my/) of Malaysia.

The purpose is to point out any data errors, anomalies, inconsistent formats, that will help SPR improve its database.

Some of the errors will show that SPR is not perfect, and there is space for operational improvement. Some of the oddities and inconsistencies will point to either negligence at SPR or the National Registration of IC Department. Further, some irrational data structure (such as army and police having their own IC series) shows that the election laws and the SPR themselves need to be substantially reformed and made independent of the current government.

I will focus on two types of data:

1. Gazetted voters list of 2008 Feb 5,

2. Quarterly supplementary changes in voters list (Senarai Tambahan), that are published about 15-30 days after the end of the quarter here: http://www.spr.gov.my/index/pamer_rang.htm

The second set of data is obtained in PDF format, and converted to text, and then to database format. There may be minor errors in the conversion. Please inform me if you catch any errors.
Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.