Were 900+ Voters Deleted and Replaced in Permatang Pauh?

The numbers are about right - 951 voters were deleted from Permatang Pauh and replaced by another 961 since the 12th GE. But the reasons were technical and not too sinister. Still, the whole confusing affair highlights the needs for SPR transparency and voter registration reform.

Background: PKR has complained that about 900 voters were "missing." SPR is indignant.

PKR complained that (http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/88268): "The names of 900 voters are missing from the electoral roll for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency. The names were in the last electoral role and the voters were eligible to cast their ballots in the 12th general election." SPR's reply (http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/88553): "Explaining on the 868 names which went ‘missing' in the ‘updated' roll, Kamaruzaman [of SPR] clarified today that there were only 158 names which were removed in the latest roll. The reasons why these names were removed among others include ‘wrong' voters registration, deaths, those who aged above 100 and deemed fit by the EC to remove their names from the roll on the presumption that they have passed away." More: "SPR Can't Explain 949 Missing Voter Names," Chinese language article by MerdekaReview.com. (Machine translation. Please note that machine translation provides only a "gist" translation; the result will contain funny translation mistakes.)

Our investigation did find that 951 voters were "deleted" after the 12 GE in Permatang Pauh, while another 961 voters were "added" to the by-election roll dated 2008 Jul.

But we also found that these changes were due to three not-too-cynical reasons and minor SPR mistakes:

1. The technicality of modifying police IC numbering scheme,
2. Regular voter registrations, inward and outward movements, and
3. SPR's dead-voter deletion overdrive.

Although the reasons are not sinister, there are lessons for the SPR: How can SPR avoid such public confusion and distrust in the future?

1. First, let police and military voters switch to a 12-digit civilian IC to simplify verification, update, and avoid duplicate registrations.
   
   
2. Second, make voter registration automatic with MyKad status at the NRIC Department. Meanwhile, make NRIC accountable to the parliament, to prevent Sabah-like IC mess,
   
   
3. Third, make SPR more transparent with the gazetted and quarterly electoral rolls. SPR has recently stopped the online publication of the quarterly rolls in PDF format.Given adequate data, NGOs and the media can actually help SPR avoid unnecessary confusion.
   

What's so complicated about the electoral rolls?

• First, we need to clarify which versions of electoral rolls are being bandied about.

• We believe the confusion arises from comparing these versions:

• the 2008 Feb 5 gazetted roll used in the 12th GE, with data up to 2007 Dec 31 (=2007Q4),
  
• The 2008 Jun 19 gazetted roll, with data up to 2008 Mar 31 (=2008Q1),
• The ungazetted supplementary roll with data from 2008 Jun 30 (=2008Q2),
  
• The 2008 Jul 31 ungazetted roll for Permatang Pauh, based on the 2008 Jun 19 gazetted roll, adjusted for subsequent deletions, but not additions, ie, deletion-type changes between 2008 Apr 1 and 2008 Jul 31.
  

• PKR members are probably comparing versions (a) with (d), because they are most likely to have the MS Access soft copies for these two. Version (c) is most widely available in hard copy printed from PDF files, and reflects a "flow," or change, data, not a "point-in-time," cumulative, data.

• In contrast, the SPR probably thinks in terms of versions (b) vs (d), since (b) is a gazetted version. Version (c) is an intermediate version, that is to be gazetted. If and when (c) is gazetted, the Permatang Pauh section can lead to further confusion, because its data are dated 20080630, and is a "prequel" to the by-election version (d).
  

• We will focus on versions (a) and (d), because these are the most accessible to the public, and also from where the questions likely arise. We will supplement the information with version (b) which we have built into a "pro forma" version.
  

If you haven't been completely confused, read on!

---

So what happened? We will explain our finding in 8 points:


Finding 1. The difference of only 10 voters between the 12th-GE and by-election rolls hides larger changes beneath.

Table A below shows that Permatang Pauh:

• contained 58,449 voters at the time of 12th GE roll gazetted on 2008 Feb 5,
  
• but now contains 58,459 voters at this by-election roll, dated 2008 Jul 31.
  
• On the surface, the roll has simply increased by 10 voters.
  
• But the underlying picture is a bit more complicated.

Table A: Comparing 20080205 and 20080731 Data

Date of publication	Gazetted	Data date	voter count	Comment
20080205	20080205	20071231	58,449	Used in 12th GE
20080619	20080619	20080331	58,761	Pro forma version estimated by Malvu.blogspot.com based on 2008Q1 changes
20080731	Not gazetted	20080731?	58,459	Used in this by-election

Finding 2. 951 voter ICs were deleted after the 12th GE roll, while 961 voter ICs were added to the by-election roll, netting the superficial increase of only 10 voter ICs.

Table B below shows that, between the times of the 12th GE and the by-election:

• 951 voter ICs were deleted. In other words, these voters existed in the 12th GE roll, but are now "missing" from the by-election roll.
  
• 961 new voter ICs were added. In other words, this many IC numbers were in the newer by-election roll, but had not existed in the 12th GE roll.
  
• Net result is the addition of only 10 voters (=961-951) on the surface.
  
• Meanwhile, 57,498 voter IC numbers exist in both the newer and older rolls. In other words, they remain valid voters both during the 12th GE and today's by-election.
• The number of 949 missing names cited in the MerdekaReview.com article above likely refers to the 951 deleted ICs (not names), less the 2 easily-explained police retirement cases,
  

• Our question is then: Were the deletion of 951 voters and addition of the other 961 voters reasonable and kosher?
  

Table B: Cross-Checking IC Numbers Between the 12th GE and By-Election Rolls

	Postal & non- postal		Postal Voters		Non- postal Voters	Comment
IC found in 20080205 but not in 20080731	951	=	491	+	460	These IC numbers were in the 12th GE roll, but now "gone" from by-election roll
IC found in 20080731 but not in 20080205	961	=	489	+	472	These IC numbers were not in the 12th GE roll, but are now in the by-election roll
IC found in both versions	57,498	=	1	+	57,497	These were in both the 12th GE and by-election rolls

Finding 3. Nearly half the changes involved an identical group of police postal voters, who have not actually moved, but have only had their police IC numbers slightly modified. This is enough to confuse the public, even apparently the SPR itself.

• Overall, there were 492 police postal voters in Permatang Pauh as of the 12th GE.
• One of them (G6014602) already had the "most updated" IC numbering format, and hence this IC number was not changed, "deleted" or "added back."
  
• Another two (I0013148 and R0071611) were permanently deleted after the 12th GE, probably due to retirement.
  

• The remaining 489 (=492-1-2) police postal voters had their IC numbers modified slightly, as we will explain later.
• This IC number change causes these 489 postal voters to appear to have gone "missing" en masse.
  
• The "missing" voters would total 491 if we count the 2 retirement cases mentioned above.
  
• Meanwhile, the same 489 postal voters' newly modified IC numbers make them look like 489 newly "added" voters. This likely happens because PKR, and even SPR itself, have no choice but to search the database by relying on the unique IC numbers, known in database parlance as the "primary index".

• This apparent and illusory "deletion" of 491 and "addition" of 489 postal voters account for about half the 951 "missing" and 961 "replacement" voters in the by-election roll.

Finding 4. The proof is in the detail: Let us look at all 489 pairs of slightly-changed police IC numbers.

From Table C below, we can see that the 489 pairs of old and new police postal IC numbers are nearly identical, having only these 2 feature changes:

1. All police IC # starting with "R0" or "R" in 2008 Feb 5 roll have been changed to "RF" in the by-election roll. For example, R0117812 has been changed to RF117812.
   
2. All police IC # starting with "G0," "I0," or "RT0" have been changed to "G," "I," or "RT" eliminating preceeding zeros. For example "RT007013" and "I0013642" have been changed to "RT7013" and "I13642" respectively.
   

Table C: Permatang Pauh's 489 Police Postal Voters' ICs as Formatted in Electoral Rolls Dated 2008 Feb 5 and 2008 Jul 31

20080205	20080731		20080205	20080731		20080205	20080731		20080205	20080731
R0117812	RF117812		I0016525	I16525		R0150393	RF150393		R0115049	RF115049
R0083450	RF83450		R0121314	RF121314		R0156472	RF156472		R0122015	RF122015
R0075343	RF75343		I0015495	I15495		RT017150	RT17150		R0075600	RF75600
R0110379	RF110379		R0106264	RF106264		R0121553	RF121553		R0117609	RF117609
R0066165	RF66165		R0144589	RF144589		R0099644	RF99644		R0082847	RF82847
R0094340	RF94340		R0147646	RF147646		R0116111	RF116111		R0125958	RF125958
RT007013	RT7013		R0116861	RF116861		R0072226	RF72226		R0114448	RF114448
R0084073	RF84073		R0136943	RF136943		R0119542	RF119542		R0129824	RF129824
R0117802	RF117802		R0087700	RF87700		R0147791	RF147791		R0154684	RF154684
R0116501	RF116501		R0070383	RF70383		R0064730	RF64730		I0017421	I17421
R0075162	RF75162		R0106695	RF106695		R0122041	RF122041		R0118150	RF118150
R0104241	RF104241		R0119208	RF119208		R0066504	RF66504		R0096855	RF96855
R0081895	RF81895		R0098386	RF98386		R0152192	RF152192		R0150957	RF150957
R0064863	RF64863		R0092672	RF92672		R0120416	RF120416		R0155317	RF155317
R0133195	RF133195		R0105778	RF105778		R0160854	RF160854		R0106314	RF106314
I0013642	I13642		R0086517	RF86517		R0096185	RF96185		R0090262	RF90262
R0110443	RF110443		R0072837	RF72837		R0109868	RF109868		R0087460	RF87460
R0150829	RF150829		R0146826	RF146826		G0016759	G16759		R0070168	RF70168
R0104462	RF104462		G0010340	G10340		R0016140	RF16140		R0120817	RF120817
R0098522	RF98522		R0118270	RF118270		R0150851	RF150851		R0138717	RF138717
R0157454	RF157454		R0098446	RF98446		R0152253	RF152253		R0123647	RF123647
R0126342	RF126342		R0087746	RF87746		R0146804	RF146804		R0118151	RF118151
R0147641	RF147641		R0088872	RF88872		RT017092	RT17092		R0209015	RF209015
R0148019	RF148019		R0069129	RF69129		I0015669	I15669		R0122707	RF122707
R0111866	RF111866		R0082303	RF82303		R0074986	RF74986		R0127487	RF127487
R0109440	RF109440		R0059576	RF59576		R0102538	RF102538		R0135769	RF135769
RT009714	RT9714		RT009593	RT9593		R0121104	RF121104		R0104206	RF104206
R0092824	RF92824		R0104216	RF104216		I0016952	I16952		R0118437	RF118437
R0090872	RF90872		R0083428	RF83428		R0092461	RF92461		R0100972	RF100972
R0120704	RF120704		R0066678	RF66678		I0010102	I10102		R4068948	RF4068948
R0066493	RF66493		R0096059	RF96059		RT013524	RT13524		I0013105	I13105
R0103016	RF103016		R0007020	RF7020		R0119522	RF119522		R0087568	RF87568
R0115002	RF115002		R0101088	RF101088		G0015784	G15784		R0118571	RF118571
R0069264	RF69264		R0084978	RF84978		R0150373	RF150373		R0094393	RF94393
R0096808	RF96808		R0075855	RF75855		R0075364	RF75364		R0089600	RF89600
R0072849	RF72849		R065263	RF65263		R0117352	RF117352		R0157902	RF157902
R0122428	RF122428		R0118501	RF118501		R0099634	RF99634		R0146815	RF146815
R0075559	RF75559		R0094191	RF94191		R0156050	RF156050		R0127383	RF127383
G0009929	G9929		R0101759	RF101759		I0013498	I13498		R0082005	RF82005
R0099581	RF99581		R0112305	RF112305		R0115735	RF115735		R0084519	RF84519
R0161034	RF161034		R0110411	RF110411		R0059422	RF59422		R0118524	RF118524
R0071196	RF71196		I0015858	I15858		R0085050	RF85050		R0139560	RF139560
R0086272	RF86272		R0117385	RF117385		R0118247	RF118247		R0081950	RF81950
R0058643	RF58643		R0087723	RF87723		R0150756	RF150756		R0071496	RF71496
I0017140	I17140		R0073939	RF73939		I0009048	I9048		R0092831	RF92831
R0111890	RF111890		R0121980	RF121980		R0112759	RF112759		R0094451	RF94451
R0158318	RF158318		R0082276	RF82276		R0124857	RF124857		R0085785	RF85785
R0122429	RF122429		R0117288	RF117288		R0110132	RF110132		R0090295	RF90295
R0101127	RF101127		R0104469	RF104469		R0065091	RF65091		R0141877	RF141877
R0109306	RF109306		R0111437	RF111437		R0074980	RF74980		RT012073	RT12073
R0139177	RF139177		I0016109	I16109		R0159393	RF159393		I0016795	I16795
R0153224	RF153224		R0138304	RF138304		R0074313	RF74313		R0138322	RF138322
R0154666	RF154666		R0152268	RF152268		RT017098	RT17098		R0141991	RF141991
R0067147	RF67147		R0138920	RF138920		R0144493	RF144493		R0069164	RF69164
R0106936	RF106936		R0120262	RF120262		R0111938	RF111938		I0010825	I10825
R0103900	RF103900		R0075173	RF75173		R0145358	RF145358		R0094306	RF94306
R0113253	RF113253		R0108918	RF108918		R0118325	RF118325		I0008287	I8287
R0102111	RF102111		R0089312	RF89312		R0116414	RF116414		R0121418	RF121418
R0137757	RF137757		R0097853	RF97853		R0150400	RF150400		RT007425	RT7425
R0125261	RF125261		R0084200	RF84200		R0106883	RF106883		R0127275	RF127275
R0117266	RF117266		R0090007	RF90007		R0100604	RF100604		R0090619	RF90619
R0110136	RF110136		R0138733	RF138733		R0102610	RF102610		R0119829	RF119829
R0089976	RF89976		RT007021	RT7021		R0069725	RF69725		R0111099	RF111099
I0015980	I15980		R0085327	RF85327		R0092344	RF92344		R0101869	RF101869
R0092005	RF92005		R0072814	RF72814		R0085523	RF85523		I0014237	I14237
R0115609	RF115609		R0073548	RF73548		R0075596	RF75596		R0069567	RF69567
R0129826	RF129826		R0120282	RF120282		G0010593	G10593		R0086808	RF86808
R0095077	RF95077		R0107024	RF107024		R0102663	RF102663		R0102645	RF102645
R0098789	RF98789		I0011269	I11269		R0068305	RF68305		I0013908	I13908
R0075212	RF75212		I0016783	I16783		R0073304	RF73304		R0069521	RF69521
R0066339	RF66339		R0089026	RF89026		R0106103	RF106103		R0148427	RF148427
R0116504	RF116504		R0102937	RF102937		R0094390	RF94390		R0116417	RF116417
R0060135	RF60135		R0123190	RF123190		R0119640	RF119640		R0131568	RF131568
R0106581	RF106581		R0110041	RF110041		I0014965	I14965		G0016185	G16185
R0090416	RF90416		R0103029	RF103029		R0119068	RF119068		R0110449	RF110449
R0066610	RF66610		R0098627	RF98627		R0138208	RF138208		R0070173	RF70173
R0113312	RF113312		R0099137	RF99137		R0138214	RF138214		R0105197	RF105197
R0097230	RF97230		R0069353	RF69353		R0075774	RF75774		R0160886	RF160886
I0017068	I17068		R0114111	RF114111		R0137764	RF137764		R0121142	RF121142
R0127064	RF127064		R0155827	RF155827		R0111484	RF111484		R0136263	RF136263
R0118159	RF118159		R0067825	RF67825		R0102302	RF102302		R0068361	RF68361
R0054978	RF54978		R0104197	RF104197		R0138212	RF138212		R0126897	RF126897
R0092037	RF92037		R0055360	RF55360		R0115649	RF115649		R0109539	RF109539
R0115637	RF115637		R0102590	RF102590		R0105562	RF105562		R0106522	RF106522
R0088651	RF88651		R0092888	RF92888		R0118252	RF118252		R0114994	RF114994
RT015000	RT15000		R0092114	RF92114		R0068148	RF68148		R0097692	RF97692
R0116711	RF116711		R0118351	RF118351		R0105909	RF105909		RT009716	RT9716
R0094465	RF94465		R0054938	RF54938		R0103137	RF103137		RT007026	RT7026
R0069476	RF69476		RT011990	RT11990		R0129943	RF129943		R0093626	RF93626
R0088717	RF88717		RT011958	RT11958		R0137820	RF137820		R0064917	RF64917
R0124440	RF124440		RT011988	RT11988		I0016516	I16516		R0098125	RF98125
R0072179	RF72179		R0073400	RF73400		R0155013	RF155013		R0116034	RF116034
I0013491	I13491		RT007035	RT7035		R0069136	RF69136		R0117340	RF117340
R0091444	RF91444		R0058175	RF58175		R0101891	RF101891		R0132520	RF132520
R0098521	RF98521		R0066078	RF66078		R0107972	RF107972		R0104387	RF104387
R0059415	RF59415		R0102961	RF102961		R0066208	RF66208		R0091382	RF91382
I0016226	I16226		R0122779	RF122779		R0087491	RF87491		R0113831	RF113831
R0090962	RF90962		R0082794	RF82794		R0059684	RF59684		R0085849	RF85849
R0063770	RF63770		R0067988	RF67988		I0014150	I14150		R0122598	RF122598
R0090810	RF90810		I0014091	I14091		R0100837	RF100837		R0116364	RF116364
R0092038	RF92038		R0138088	RF138088		RT012082	RT12082		R0104209	RF104209
R0095087	RF95087		R0118936	RF118936		R0098885	RF98885		R0117549	RF117549
R0137143	RF137143		I0015279	I15279		R0068460	RF68460		R0139473	RF139473
R0088718	RF88718		G0010459	G10459		R0105514	RF105514		R0125742	RF125742
I0012513	I12513		R0116946	RF116946		R0102949	RF102949		R0126530	RF126530
G0009068	G9068		R0139514	RF139514		R0157897	RF157897		R0094339	RF94339
R0092019	RF92019		R0108885	RF108885		RT007037	RT7037		R0113963	RF113963
R0108073	RF108073		I0016617	I16617		R0090997	RF90997		R0072823	RF72823
R0085982	RF85982		RT016618	RT16618		R0091885	RF91885		R0133525	RF133525
R0089495	RF89495		G0010714	G10714		R0088438	RF88438		R0100831	RF100831
R0139568	RF139568		R0118710	RF118710		R0064739	RF64739		R0110553	RF110553
RT015968	RT15968		R0101581	RF101581		R0092126	RF92126		I0013880	I13880
R0094405	RF94405		R0146589	RF146589		R0085474	RF85474		R0124820	RF124820
R0100609	RF100609		R0094259	RF94259		R0071032	RF71032		R0139594	RF139594
R0150986	RF150986		R0085635	RF85635		R0069950	RF69950		R0116477	RF116477
R0090113	RF90113		RT016106	RT16106		R0075273	RF75273		R0082136	RF82136
R0105635	RF105635		R0152652	RF152652		R0118573	RF118573		R0070484	RF70484
R0127580	RF127580		R0110021	RF110021		R0138188	RF138188		R0063476	RF63476
R0091637	RF91637		R0111843	RF111843		R0067341	RF67341		R0072256	RF72256
R0119628	RF119628		R0139485	RF139485		R0105516	RF105516		R0136959	RF136959
R0089897	RF89897		R0145798	RF145798		R0131432	RF131432
R0072131	RF72131		I0016650	I16650		R0130748	RF130748
R0106937	RF106937		I0012250	I12250		R0107051	RF107051

Note: If you can't see the whole table width, reduce your browser text size (Menu>View>Text Size). You can also click, drag, highlight the table, copy, and paste special, value, into your Excel spreadsheet for easier viewing.


Finding 5: SPR did a poor and confusing job in modifying these police IC numbers, and in explaining the changes.

While we now understand that 489 police postal voters really did not move in or out of Permatang Pauh, there remain other questions and expected problems:

• SPR should have expected this IC number confusion, should have been ready to explain the changes, thereby preempting a loss to its own credibility.
• This postal IC number modification occurred in a rush, only after the 2008 Jun 19 gazetted roll, in which we can find the old-formatted IC numbers. Confirming this timing is that we cannot find these "deletion" or "addition" in the 2008Q1 supplementary roll.
  
• The changes do not look permanent. Any further changes will again invite confusion. Some of the "new format" police IC numbers are too short or too long to be a standardized, permanent, format:
  
• Most of the IC#s are preceded by one or two alphabets, followed by 6 digits,
• But there are IC#s followed by only 4-5 digits, for example, RT9714, G9929, and I13642.
  
• There is an IC# followed by 7 digits, ie, RF4068948. With the "RF" prefix, this IC# has 9 characters in all, and is a non-standard occurrence.
• With the above oddities, we would expect SPR at anytime to add back the zeros to the shorter IC#s make them a standard length, reigniting confusion.
  
• A separate matter is that about 404 of the "Bukit Mertajam" police HQ/station officers have probably been gerrymandered into the "Permatang Pauh" seat. We will deal with the geographical question another time.

Why did SPR risk confusion to modify the police IC numbers? We believe SPR "shortened" the police IC numbers to preempt any embarrassing discovery of duplicate registrations of postal voters, as reported earlier:

• MalaysiaKini.com reported just before the 12th GE that computer programmer Ong Guan Sin had found 278 pairs of such double-registered voters that differ by a leading zero.
• With a complete database, we later found 771 such doppelgängers that differ by a leading zero, or only different by the initial "R0" and "RF."

Obviously, the SPR didn't anticipate that this IC-shortening move itself would cause new internal and external confusions.

The solution to this and future problems? Switch to using 12-digit civilian ICs for all postal (police and military) voters. Aren't they exercising their civilian duties when voting? Aren't they born civilian? Haven't they received the MyKad and 12-digit IC numbers by the age of 12 - before they enter the police and army? Aren't they going to retire as civilians?

Moreover, we feel the SPR also does not fully realize that many of the duplicated postal registration also involve input mistakes and variations in names (Nama) and year of birth (Tahunlahir), albeit not in P044. See Tables B and C in "771 doppelgängers." It is these second and third layers of input mistakes at SPR's voter registration procedure that caused the errors to be so difficult to trace.

The solution to this and future problem? Make voter registration automatic, as they attain their MyKad and 12-digit ICs.


Finding 6: The deletion of 460 non-postal voters after the 12th GE is more dicey. We can only trace 218 of the 460 deletions - given SPR's lack of transparency. The remaining 242 could have contained the 5 embarrassing cases of "alive-and-well but deleted-as-dead" voters documented by the media and NGO.

Table D tells us that:

• 460 of the 951 voter ICs deleted were non-postal voters
• Our investigation of the 2008Q1 supplemental roll revealed that 84 voters were deleted because they moved out of P044, and 89 deceased voters were deleted. SPR was going through an aggressive campaign to clean up cumulated dead voters across the country.
• In total, SPR deleted 173 (=84+89) voters from Permatang Pauh in 2008Q1. We have recorded this finding in our earlier blog "Pro Forma Electoral Roll for P044 for 2008Q1."

• That means SPR deleted the remaining 287 (=460-173) during 2008Q2 (April, May, June), and also in July.
• We cannot trace what happened then because SPR stopped publishing supplemental roll for 2008Q2, and only displayed the hard copies in post offices.

• Further, we can tell by manually checking SPR's P044 by-election voter verification Web page, that SPR deleted all voters age 100 or more across the board, which account for 25 voter deletion after the 2008 Jun 19 gazetted roll. We have documented this apparent "stroke-of-a-pen deletion of centenarians here."
• Further, SPR deleted a total of 20 voters aged 86 to 89 years old.

• In all, we can trace 218 (=84+89+25+20) of the 460 deletions of non-postal voters so far.
• That leaves 242 deletions of non-postal voters to be explained.

Table D: Accounting for deletion of 951 voters after the 12th GE

Voter changes	Number of Voters	Number of Voters
Number of voter ICs deleted after 12th GE		951
Number of postal voter IC deleted/modified		491
Number of non-postal voter IC deleted		460
2008 Jun 19 gazetted list (data as of 2008 Mar 31, we calculate from our pro forma version)
Deletion of voters for moving out reported in 2008Q1	84
Deletion of voters due to death reported in 2008Q1	89
Subtotal - Deletion reported in 2008Q1		173
Number of deletions to explain for 2008Q2 and 2008 July		287
SPR deletion of all voters 100 or older in April, May, June, July	25
SPR deletion of voters 86 to 99 years old in April, May, June, July	20
Subtotal - Deletion of 86+ year voters in 2008Q2 and up to July 31		45
Number of non-postal deletion we can trace	218
Number of deletions to explain		242

From recent pattern of a special SPR campaign to delete dead voters, we figure it is reasonable to expect about 200 deletions of moved-out and dead voters per quarter, for April, May, and June, a period that should overlap with the above 86+ voter deletion (25+20).

• Any registration changes for July 2008 (after 2008Q2), however, have not even been publicly displayed - not to mention gazetted. It would be imprudent for SPR to delete from July changes, although it could account for perhaps 100 or more missing voters.

• SPR's lack of transparency and unwillingness to make 2008Q2 supplementary roll easily available means we cannot trace the last 242 deletions. We can only make partial, manual, checking and guesses.
• These 242 untraced deletions could easily contain mistakes created in a rush. If so, SPR would have embarrassed itself by trying to avoid embarrassing itself.

• MalaysiaKini.com and MerdekaReview.com have reported a total of 5 cases of voters, who are alive and well, who were told by SPR staff on polling day that they had been considered dead and deleted from the rolls.
• We can confirm one case (Ang Kean Tatt, born 1983) where the voter did exist in the 2008 Feb 5 roll, is alive and well, but is not found in the 2008 Jul 31 roll, and was told he was dead in the voters roll.
  
• We suspect other cases may involve long-dormant voters who have suddenly found themselves gerrymandered away from Permatang Pauh even before the 12th GE.
  
• See various reports:
• Four names missing from electoral list
• 选民册上宣报死亡 真正幽灵选民显现？ Machine translation (will contain funny machine translation mistakes).

Finding 7: The "addition" of 961 voters in the by-election roll was also inflated by 489 new-formatted police postal voter IC numbers

As we explained above in Finding 2, 489 police voters remained in Permatang Pauh so far this yea. But their newly-formatted IC numbers have made these 489 look like "new additions" to the roll.


Finding 8: The remaining 472 (=961-489) new non-postal voters can be traced to normal new voters and moved-in voters in 2008Q1, gazetted in 2008 Jun 19.

• SPR press release indicated that SPR did not add new voters after the 2008 Jun 19 gazetted (2008Q1 data) rolls, and that SPR only deleted voters found to have moved out or to have died.
• The 2008Q1 supplementary roll revealed that 485 new voters were added to Permatang Pauh in 2008Q1, gazetted on 2008 Jun 19:
• 373 voters were added due to new registration, and
• 112 voters were added because they moved into Permatang Pauh.


• Earlier we calculated that 472 non-postal voters were added, which is fewer than 485 reported in 2008Q1.
• This means we can account for almost all the addition to the by-election roll.
• As a result, we had not been too worried about "phantom voters" being imported into the electoral roll. (Although bused-in phantoms using other valid voters' ICs is another matter to worry about.)
• Still, the difference of 13, between 485 non-postal voters added in 2008Q1 and 472 additional non-postal voters found on the by-election roll, is a small mystery. Some 13 voters were somehow deleted or not included somewhere.

With the above 8 points of finding, and the confusion created by SPR changes, we repeat these three recommendations for improving SPR and the electoral rolls:

1. First, let police and military voters switch to a 12-digit civilian IC to simplify verification, update, and avoid duplicate registrations.
   
   
2. Second, make voter registration automatic with MyKad status at the NRIC Department. Meanwhile, make NRIC accountable to the parliament, to prevent Sabah-like IC mess,
   
   
3. Third, make SPR more transparent with the gazetted and quarterly electoral rolls. SPR has recently stopped the online publication of the quarterly rolls in PDF format.Given adequate data, NGOs and the media can actually help SPR avoid unnecessary confusion.
   

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

83 Voters in the Same House - More SPR Negligence?

When 83 or 60 voters reside in the same house, either the NRIC Department or the SPR must have been negligent in registering their specific street addresses.

This blog entry also looks for voters who have house number (NoRumah), indicating a specific house location. But many of them apparently live in giant house addresses. The problem is likely to be historical vagueness in NRIC and SPR's registration processes.

This is all the more reason to abolish SPR's voter registration, and implement automatic voter registration based on NRIC Department data. Then the parliament and NGOs can focus on NRIC's quality of work. Why tolerate another layer of voter registration mistakes, vagueness, and delay created by SPR?

What Table A tells us:

• Table A lists Permatang Pauh addresses that are shared by 15 or more voters.
• Table A includes both localities that are with and without house numbers (NoRumah). Those without house numbers overlap with the previous blog entry.

• For those without house numbers, a voter may have a kampong/mukim locality, but may not have a street address (Jalan/Lorong/Solok, etc) and house number.
  
• An example: Seberang Jaya/ Kampong Belah Dua/ Pmtg Nibong. (60 voters here, no house number.)
  
• The fault of omitting street name and house number could lie with:
  
• The government and MPSP for not developing proper streets for these residents,
• The NRIC Department for failing to register the specific house and street address in MyKad,
• SPR, for failing to register or display in electoral roll, the relevant street name, and/or house number
  

• But for many who do have house numbers, which indicates a very specific house: how is it that there are no street names for them?
  

• An example is Seberang Jaya/ Jalan Sembilang/ Kg Bagan Serai/ 1155 (NoRumah is 1155; 83 voters live here; but where's the street name?).
  
• Either the NRIC Department or the SPR has messed up in the street address registration process.
• This problem has reached legendary proportion in rural states such as Sabah and Kelantan.
  

• Most of these names may indeed be genuine voters.
• Kampong Bagan Serai is a crowded area that would be considered squatter area by strict urban standards.
  
• But who can tell who are genuine? With 83 voters at NoRumah 1155, 60 voters at NoRumah 1138, 45 voters at NoRumah 334, and 21 voters at NoRumah 331?
  

Table A: 12 or More Voters Sharing Same Address, With and Without House Numbers
Excluding Postal Voters, Arranged by Number of Voters
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN / State Assembly Seat	NamaDM / Voting District	Nama Lokaliti / Locality Name	NoRumah / House Number	Voters in this add ress
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	1155	83
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	1138	60
044/10/04/001	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Pmtg Nibong		60
044/12/07/001	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Kubang Ulu Mk 20		47
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	334	45
044/12/04/006	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Titi Mk 19		39
044/10/07/002	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Ptg Rawa Mk7		33
044/12/06/005	Penanti	Penanti	Pondok Penanti Mk 20		32
044/12/04/003	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Mk 19		32
044/11/05/004	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Kg Pelet Mk 3		31
044/12/02/002	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Mk 20 Kuala Mengkuang		30
044/11/06/001	Permatang Pasir	Kubang Semang	Kubang Semang Mk 5		27
044/10/03/004	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	Kampong Besar		24
044/11/04/001	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Bt Indra Muda Mk 3		23
044/12/01/002	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Guar Jering B M		22
044/12/01/004	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Kampong Terus Mk 21		22
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	331	21
044/12/01/006	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Padang Ibu		20
044/11/01/004	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Kg Sama Gagah Mk 2	747	20
044/10/03/001	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	Kampong Pertama Mk 4		20
044/11/04/004	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Bt Indra Muda Mk 5		20
044/11/04/005	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Kg Petani Mk 5	340	19
044/11/04/002	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Kg Petani Mk 3	788	19
044/11/01/004	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Kg Sama Gagah Mk 2	536	18
044/12/02/003	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Mk 20 Mengkuang Mak Sulong		17
044/11/09/003	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Tengah	Pmtg Tengah Mk 4	2618	17
044/11/01/004	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Kg Sama Gagah Mk 2	597	17
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	986	17
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	1023	16
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	1214	16
044/11/02/013	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Pmtg Pasir Mk 3		16
044/11/05/004	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Kg Pelet Mk 3	730	16
044/11/03/001	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Pauh	Pmtg Pauh Mk 4	967	16
044/10/06/008	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Tmn Pauh	17	16
044/11/01/004	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Kg Sama Gagah Mk 2	958	16
044/11/05/004	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Kg Pelet Mk 3	562	16
044/11/02/003	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Sg Sintok Mk 2	717	16
044/10/06/007	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Misjid Timah Mk 6		16
044/12/01/003	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Guar Perahu B M		15
044/12/06/004	Penanti	Penanti	Penanti Mk 20	906	15
044/12/03/004	Penanti	Telok Wang	Telok Wang Mk 19		15
044/12/06/004	Penanti	Penanti	Penanti Mk 20		15
044/12/01/001	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Bukit Berangan Mk 21	587	15
044/10/01/024	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Pintas Sembilang 13	43	15
044/10/04/004	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Taman Hj. Mohd Amin	1	15
044/12/09/003	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	Tanah Liat Mk 9		15

Table B shows us that:

• When voter registration includes street names, such as "Jalan" and "Lorong," then voter registration is less confusing.
• Voters tend not to be confusingly "crowded" into a large address.
• Table B is at the other end of the spectrum started by Table A, and is included to contrast with Table A.
• That is, Table B includes a sample of Locality+House Number with only a single registered voter. Table B shows more specific addresses.
• Even then, there are some very vague voter address registration.

Table B: Some Addresses With Only A Single Voters
To Demonstrate More Specific Locality/Address Details
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN / State Assembly Seat	NamaDM / Voting District	Nama Lokaliti / Locality Name	NoRumah / House Number	Voters in this add ress
044/10/05/023	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya I	Lrg Siakap 32	11-A	1
044/10/05/005	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya I	Taman Siakap	BLK B/120-H	1
044/11/05/004	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Kg Pelet Mk 3	512	1
044/10/02/004	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya II	Jalan Tenggiri	545B	1
044/12/03/005	Penanti	Telok Wang	Kg Tun Sardon	TS 6122	1
044/12/09/003	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	Tanah Liat Mk 9	279(B)	1
044/10/01/027	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Lrg Sembilang 5	36	1
044/10/02/008	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya II	Lrg Tenggiri 1	BLK 03-13	1
044/12/08/001	Penanti	Sungai Semambu	Kg Tok Elong Mk 20	2032	1
044/11/08/004	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Cross Street 2	Tanah Liat Mk 8	576	1
044/11/04/004	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Bt Indra Muda Mk 5	1471	1
044/12/02/002	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Mk 20 Kuala Mengkuang	3562	1
044/10/09/002	Seberang Jaya	Taman Tun Hussein Onn	Taman Baru	16	1
044/11/01/008	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Tmn Samagagah	957	1
044/10/06/009	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Kg Setol Mk 6	623	1
044/11/07/002	Permatang Pasir	Tanah Liat Mukim 8	Kg Paya Mk 8	459	1
044/10/08/019	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Tuna	Lebuh Tuna	BLOK D-21-643-C	1
044/12/06/003	Penanti	Penanti	Kubang Semang Mk 20	1283	1
044/12/03/001	Penanti	Telok Wang	Bukit Gempas Mk 19	516	1
044/10/02/008	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya II	Lrg Tenggiri 1	BLOK E4-14	1

Table C shows us that:

• There is a large occurrence of Locality+House Number where many voters seems to "live together,"
• For example, there are 3 places with 50 or more registered voters.
• One of the these 3 places is without house number (NoRumah left blank),
• When we exclude that place without house number, we are still left with 2 places where SPR has registered the Locality+House Number, but where more than 50 voters reside, apparently.
  

• There are 10 places shared by 20 to 29 voters, including 8 places without house number,The number rises quickly from here.
• There are 25 places shared by 15 to 19 voters, including 7 places without house number,
• There are 104 places shared by 12 to 14 voters, including only 10 places without house number,
• There are 166 places shared by 10 to 11 voters, including 3 places without house number,
  

• There are 2,747 places shared by 5 or voters, including 57 places without house number,

Table C: Tallying Locality+House Number, and the Number of Voters in Each

Number of voters at same Locality+House Number	Count of such Locality+House Number, including Blank NoRumah	Count of such Locality+House Number, EXCLUDING Blank NoRumah	Count of Blank House Number
50 and above	3	2	1
30 to 49	8	1	7
20 to 29	10	2	8
15 to 19	25	18	7
12 to 14	104	94	10
10 to 11	166	163	3
9	155	150	5
8	231	229	2
7	436	433	3
6	645	638	7
5	964	960	4
4	1,674	1,664	10
3	2,624	2,617	7
2	5,357	5,344	13
1	13,535	13,499	36
Total	25,937	25,814	123

Note:

• We attempt to "standardize" house numbers in the database before looking for voters with the same house number, in order to find more of them.
• For example, we eliminate the inconsistently used "NO. " or "N0. ". Additionally, we eliminate stand-alone "-", "*", and other odd characters that represent blank house number.

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

1,020 Voters Without House Number Highlights SPR Voter Registration Shortcomings

Permatang Pauh contains 1,020, or only 1.8%, non-postal voters without house number. But the broader issue is that 1/3 of all Malaysian voters are registered without house number. The government should abolish the SPR-centered voter registration process, and automatically register all adult MyKad-holding citizens, to prevent SPR from introducing registration mistakes, inconsistencies, and delays

This analysis is based on the by-election electoral roll dated 2008 July 31 for P044, Permatang Pauh. You can only verify these cases (voters without house numbers) by using SPR's MS Access formatted electoral roll. The SPR by-election voter verification Web page will not show the voter's house number or NoRumah (which is perhaps a good policy to protect voter privacy).

Table A tells us that:

• Of the 28 voting districts (DMs or Daerah Mengudi) in Permatang Pauh, 4 DMs contain 5% or more voters registered without house number (NoRumah),
• These top 4 DMs by percentage are in the more rural state assembly seat of Penanti,
• The top 4 DMs by number contain 123, 101, 91, and 73 voters without NoRumah.

• There is a total of 1,020 voters in P044 who registered without the house number information,
• Although the overall percentage of 1.8% is small because this is a substantially urbanized parliamentary seat, the absolute number of 1,020 is still more than twice the size of postal voters (490).

• There is another 490 voters who are without house number because they are postal voters. We do not count these postal voters because we can find out precisely where their police stations are located.
• This issue of "voters without house number" is often confused with and compounded by the issue of "many voters registered in the same address," which we will discussed in the next blog entry.
  

Table A: Voters Without NoRumah By Voting Districts (DM), Ranked by Percentage
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Parl/DUN/ DM	NamaDUN / State Assembly Seat	NamaDM / Voting District	Voters without NoRumah	All Voters	Percent
044/12/04	Penanti	Mengkuang	123	1,901	6.5%
044/12/03	Penanti	Telok Wang	32	599	5.3%
044/12/01	Penanti	Guar Perahu	101	1,907	5.3%
044/12/06	Penanti	Penanti	53	1,061	5.0%
044/10/04	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	91	2,168	4.2%
044/12/07	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	48	1,400	3.4%
044/10/03	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	46	1,607	2.9%
044/10/07	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	59	2,223	2.7%
044/11/05	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	43	1,750	2.5%
044/11/02	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	73	2,980	2.4%
044/11/04	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	66	2,750	2.4%
044/11/06	Permatang Pasir	Kubang Semang	34	1,424	2.4%
044/12/02	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	61	2,727	2.2%
044/10/06	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	40	2,274	1.8%
044/12/08	Penanti	Sungai Semambu	21	1,872	1.1%
044/12/09	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	20	1,920	1.0%
044/12/05	Penanti	Sungai Lembu	5	509	1.0%
044/11/09	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Tengah	22	2,497	0.9%
044/11/01	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	19	2,774	0.7%
044/10/01	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	19	2,933	0.6%
044/12/10	Penanti	Berapit Road	9	1,461	0.6%
044/11/07	Permatang Pasir	Tanah Liat Mukim 8	10	2,175	0.5%
044/11/08	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Cross Street 2	6	2,179	0.3%
044/10/09	Seberang Jaya	Taman Tun Hussein Onn	5	2,127	0.2%
044/11/03	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Pauh	3	1,759	0.2%
044/10/02	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya II	5	2,966	0.2%
044/10/08	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Tuna	3	2,926	0.1%
044/10/05	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya I	3	3,100	0.1%
P044	Total for non-postal voters		1,020	57,969	1.8%
P044	Postal voters			490
P044	Total voters			58,459

Table B zooms into more details at the "locality" or street level:

• There are 414 localities in P044 for non-postal voters. There are another 6 postal localities. A "lokaliti" is usually a street, and sometimes defined by SPR as crudely as a village address such as kampong and mukim. Postal localities include army camps, navy base, air force base or school, police station, and overseas voters location.
• 123 of these 414 civililan localities contain at least 1 voter who registered without house number.
• Table B selects only 57 out of these 123 localities - only those localities containing 5 or more voters who register without house number.
  

• The 6 largest such localities contain 60, 47, 39, 33, 32, 32 voters without house number, and are highlighted in red below.
• Looking under the "NamaLokaliti / Locality Name" column, it would seem SPR has registered these voters with only up to their "kampong" and "mukim" details.
  

The questions would then be:

• Why does SPR not register their specific street address and house number, when the same localities do contain other voters with house numbers? For example Pmtg Nibong contains 330-60=270 voters with house numbers.
• Does it mean many kampongs in Permatang Pauh still do not have street names and house numbers?
  

• Who omitted the street details? Does the omission of house number occur at the NRIC department, or when the voters registered at SPR which omitted address details printed on MyKad?
• Who should be responsible for the lack of house number and street-specific information?
• Should it be the government, for not developing the street infrastructure?
• Should it be the NRIC, for not recording all available details in MyKad?
• Should it be the SPR, for not registering all available details from MyKad in the electoral roll?
  

• If election observers can prove (by photocopied ICs) that there is a large number of voters whose ICs indeed show detailed address and house numbers, but whose voter registrations do not show house numbers, then we can make a strong case to make all voter registrations automatic, based on MyKad and NRIC database.
  

• If the lack of street address and house number is due to poor rural development and planning, then how can the government deliver high-quality education, health service, postal service, electricity supply, and allow private sector to supply broadband Internet service, banking and finance services that will lift the quality of life for these rural voters?
• If a highly urbanized location such as Permatang Pauh still has this problem, how about the states with over 50% voters without house numbers?
  

• Which ever authority is responsible, wouldn't it be better to eliminate SPR as another layer of bureaucracy that can introduce omission, mistakes, inconsistencies, and update delay?
  
• Why not automatically register all 21-year-old citizen with MyKad as voters?
  

Table B: Count of Non-Postal Voters Without House Number By Locality, and as Percentage of Locality, With 5 or More Such Voters
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN / State Assembly Seat	NamaDM / Voting District	Nama Lokaliti / Locality Name	Voters without No Rumah	All Voters	Percent
044/10/04/001	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Pmtg Nibong	60	330	18.2%
044/12/07/001	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Kubang Ulu Mk 20	47	1,241	3.8%
044/12/04/006	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Titi Mk 19	39	682	5.7%
044/10/07/002	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Ptg Rawa Mk7	33	746	4.4%
044/12/06/005	Penanti	Penanti	Pondok Penanti Mk 20	32	142	22.5%
044/12/04/003	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Mk 19	32	298	10.7%
044/11/05/004	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Kg Pelet Mk 3	31	960	3.2%
044/12/02/002	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Mk 20 Kuala Mengkuang	30	438	6.8%
044/11/06/001	Permatang Pasir	Kubang Semang	Kubang Semang Mk 5	27	1,007	2.7%
044/10/03/004	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	Kampong Besar	24	145	16.6%
044/11/04/001	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Bt Indra Muda Mk 3	23	869	2.6%
044/12/01/004	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Kampong Terus Mk 21	22	191	11.5%
044/12/01/002	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Guar Jering B M	22	501	4.4%
044/12/01/006	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Padang Ibu	20	279	7.2%
044/11/04/004	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Bt Indra Muda Mk 5	20	698	2.9%
044/10/03/001	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	Kampong Pertama Mk 4	20	1,338	1.5%
044/12/02/003	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Mk 20 Mengkuang Mak Sulong	17	332	5.1%
044/10/06/007	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Misjid Timah Mk 6	16	239	6.7%
044/11/02/013	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Pmtg Pasir Mk 3	16	578	2.8%
044/12/03/004	Penanti	Telok Wang	Telok Wang Mk 19	15	222	6.8%
044/12/01/003	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Guar Perahu B M	15	548	2.7%
044/12/06/004	Penanti	Penanti	Penanti Mk 20	15	603	2.5%
044/12/09/003	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	Tanah Liat Mk 9	15	1,548	1.0%
044/10/06/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Jln Baharu	14	606	2.3%
044/10/04/002	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Kampong Pertama Mk 6	14	783	1.8%
044/12/08/002	Penanti	Sungai Semambu	Kubang Semang Mk 20	14	1,143	1.2%
044/12/04/005	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Sg Lembu Mk 19	13	147	8.8%
044/12/04/007	Penanti	Mengkuang	Simpang Tiga Mk 18	13	187	7.0%
044/11/02/005	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Kg Kota Mk 3	13	312	4.2%
044/12/04/002	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Mk 18	13	334	3.9%
044/11/09/003	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Tengah	Pmtg Tengah Mk 4	13	1,253	1.0%
044/11/01/004	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Kg Sama Gagah Mk 2	13	2,007	0.6%
044/10/07/004	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Permatang Batu Mk7	12	440	2.7%
044/10/01/001	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Kg Bagan Serai	11	740	1.5%
044/12/02/004	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Mk 20 Padang Ibu	10	164	6.1%
044/11/02/003	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Sg Sintok Mk 2	10	171	5.8%
044/12/03/002	Penanti	Telok Wang	Kg Lalang Mk 19	9	34	26.5%
044/10/06/009	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Kg Setol Mk 6	9	325	2.8%
044/10/04/005	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Kg Belah Dua	9	348	2.6%
044/11/04/005	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Kg Petani Mk 5	9	428	2.1%
044/11/09/002	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Tengah	Pmtg Janggus Mk 4	9	1,042	0.9%
044/12/01/005	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Mk 21 Padang Buloh	8	77	10.4%
044/11/04/002	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Kg Petani Mk 3	8	453	1.8%
044/12/04/004	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mengkuang Sg Lembu Mk 18	7	122	5.7%
044/12/01/007	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Padang Temusu Mk 21	7	188	3.7%
044/11/02/012	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Pmtg Pasir Mk 2	7	467	1.5%
044/11/05/005	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Kg Pelet Mk 21	6	87	6.9%
044/11/02/007	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Pengkalan Tambang Mk 2	6	254	2.4%
044/11/06/003	Permatang Pasir	Kubang Semang	Sg Semambu Mk 5	6	405	1.5%
044/10/07/003	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Padang Lalang Mk 7	6	499	1.2%
044/12/08/003	Penanti	Sungai Semambu	Sg Semambu Mk 20	6	600	1.0%
044/12/10/003	Penanti	Berapit Road	Kg Tanah Liat Mk 9	6	816	0.7%
044/12/04/008	Penanti	Mengkuang	Mp Tuanku Bainun	5	21	23.8%
044/12/09/002	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	Sg Ara Mk 9	5	38	13.2%
044/12/05/001	Penanti	Sungai Lembu	Sungai Lembu Village Mk 18	5	509	1.0%
044/10/04/004	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Taman Hj. Mohd Amin	5	656	0.8%
044/11/07/004	Permatang Pasir	Tanah Liat Mukim 8	Tanah Liat Mk 8	5	1,284	0.4%

SPR's inconsistent and non-sensical house number inputs. Tables C, D, and E show us that:

• SPR has input house numbers in very inconsistent, sometimes non-sensical, ways.
• Table C shows that, of all the voters in Permatang Pauh without house number, 976 have their house number input as a blank (nothing), while 46 have them input as "-" (hyphen).
  

• Worse, for the whole country's electoral roll gazetted on 2008 Feb 5, there were at least 29 ways to input "blank or without" house numbers, ranging from blank to "tiada," "null," "00," 3 asterisks, 10 hyphens, underscore, ampersand, equal sign, etc. See this link for a table of details.
  

Table C: Two Types of Input To Represent Blank or Without House Number (NoRumah)
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Blank address variations	Count
[nothing]	974
-	46
Total non-postal	1,020
Postal	490
Total	1,510

• Table D shows that, in Permatang Pauh alone, SPR uses a variety of formats for the short-form of "Number," followed by varying punctuation, space or lack of space, etc, even though it could have been skipped completely.
• The immediate impact of these inconsistencies is that it becomes very difficult for NGOs, and even SPR itself, to check for the number of voters who share the same address.
  

Table D: Many Different Ways To Input The Unnecessary "No."
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Variations of "No."	Comments
N
N0	N followed by zero
NO
N0.	N followed by zero and period
NO.
NO .	NO followed by space and then period
NO,
NO-
NO.99	No space after NO.
NO12	No space after NO
NO:10	No space after NO:
NO;6	No space after NO;

• Table E shows that, in Permatang Pauh alone, SPR inputs some house numbers almost accidentally, inlcuding quotation marks, locality information (Mk), etc.
• To verify the cases in Table E, for example, you can look into SPR's electoral roll in MS Access or PDF format for 2008 July 31, under the Kodlokaliti+NoSiri listed below. The SPR Web site "Semakan" page does not publish the house number (NoRumah).
  

Table E: More Weird Variations in SPR Registration of House Numbers (the NoRumah data column)
Permatang Pauh P044 - 2008 July 31

Variations of "No."	Kodlokaliti (Example)	NoSiri (Example)	Comments
''258 MK 20'''	044/12/07/001	1231	Three pairs of single quotes
'18'	044/11/05/007	1247	One pair of single quote
'6557 MUKIM 7'	044/11/07/003	2067	One single quote, plus MUKIM or MK
'NO 1194'	044/12/02/002	2585	One single quote, plus NO
02=09-B	044/10/09/005	1491	Equal sign in the middle
NO-1828	044/10/05/008	2881	NO and negative sign (hyphen) in front
NO.19	044/10/08/010	255	NO and period in front (several)
0-4-08	044/10/02/008	775	0- in front
01	044/10/06/002	1117	0 in front of a digit (several)
01-01	044/10/09/012	1816	0 in front of 2 numbers (several)

Conclusion

• These are additional inconsistencies that came from either NRIC or the SPR.
  
• Wouldn't it be better to expose only one agency (NRIC) to such procedural mistakes and inconsistencies?
  
• Wouldn't it be better that voter registration procedures be streamlined and automated under NRIC Department, and the problem isolated and corrected under this agency alone, while making NRIC more transparent and accountable to the parliament?
• This will shift the focus on information quality to the National Registration of IC Department, and prevent SPR from introducing an additional layer of voter registration mistakes, inconsistencies, and delays.

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Permatang Pauh's 490 Police Postal Voters

Permatang Pauh's typical postal voter is a policeman, 43 to 50 years old, who has been stationed at the new police HQ at Bukit Mertajam after the 2004 General Election. His police IC number typically starts with the characters "RF."

What does Table A tell us?

• Permatang Pauh hosts 490 postal voters,
• All of them are police voters (Locality code 700's).
  
• There are no army, navy, airforce, or overseas postal voters,
• Most of the the postal voters - 95% - are stationed in Seberang Jaya DUN (N10),

• Nearly 2/3 or 65% are in the new police HQ, at "Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Seberang Perai Tengah," which is actually in Bukit Mertajam,
• This new police HQ was added to Permatang Pauh only after the 2004 GE,

• Click on the "NamaLokaliti" links to open WikiMapia maps to these police stations. Please inform me of any mistaken map links.
  

Table A: Permatang Pauh's Postal Voters By Localities

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN State Assembly Seat	NamaDM Voting District	NamaLokaliti Locality Name (with links to WikiMapia.org)	House No.	TM Voting Station	Postal Voters
044/10/01/701	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Balai Polis Seberang Jaya	-	POS	55
044/10/04/701	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Kor Sukarelawan Polis Siswa UITM		POS	7
044/10/07/701	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Balai Polis Bukit Mertajam		POS	83
044/10/07/702	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Seberang Perai Tengah		POS	321
044/11/02/701	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Polis	748	POS	1
044/12/07/701	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Balai Polis Kubang Semang	-	POS	23
P044	Total postal voters					490

What does Table B tell us?

• Permatang Pauh's postal voters increased sharply after the 11th GE in 2004,
• Postal voters increased from 91 to 490, an increase of 399,
• The increase came from the new police HQ and another station in Bukit Mertajam, mainly at "Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Seberang Perai Tengah" (044/10/07/701 and 044/10/07/702),
  

Table B: Permatang Pauh - Number of Postal Voters Since 2004

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN State Assembly Seat	NamaDM Voting District	NamaLokaliti Locality Name	11th GE	12th GE	P044 By- Election
Date of Electoral Roll				2004 0302	2008 0205	2008 0731
044/10/01/701	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Balai Polis Seberang Jaya	61	55	55
044/10/04/701	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Kor Sukarelawan Polis Siswa UITM		7	7
044/10/05/701	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya I	Polis	1	0	0
044/10/07/701	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Balai Polis Bukit Mertajam		84	83
044/10/07/702	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Seberang Perai Tengah		321	321
044/11/02/701	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Polis	1	1	1
044/12/07/701	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Balai Polis Kubang Semang	28	24	23
P044	Total postal voters			91	492	490

Does the jump in postal voters before 12th GE of 2008 have any implications today?

Yes! It helped to elect state assemblyman Arif Shah, the current by-election opponent to Anwar Ibrahim at the parliamentary level. Arif Shah's majority at Seberang Jaya (DUN, state assembly seat, N10) dropped from 4,464 in 2004 to only 553 in 2008.

How many new postal votes were introduced by the police HQ and police station in Bukit Mertajam (044/10/07/701 and 044/10/07/702) between the 11th GE and 12th GE?

The total was 405! The new police HQ introduced 405 new postal voters to Seberang Jaya, Arif Shah's state seat, by 2008 Feb 5 (before that number dropped to 404 by 2008 July 31).

This point becomes pertinent today, because Arif Shah appears to be BN's best candidate, and derives his legitimacy to contest against Anwar at Permatang Pauh from Arif's own election as the ADUN of Seberang Jaya by 533 votes. Had there been no new and old postal voters in the 12th GE, the Arif Shah's majority would be wafer thin, likely requiring many recounts.

TheMalaysianInsider.com quote below attributed Arif Shah's win to these postal voters.

BN’s "Ariff Shah — first impressions," TheMalaysianInsider.com, Aug 14, 2008 (Extract) During the 2004 general election, Malaysians' generous mandate to the then new Prime Minister also gave first-time candidate Ariff Shah a thumping majority of 4,464 votes over the well-known figure Dr Mansor Othman, who was then Penang PKR chief. However, Abdullah's unpopularity later also cut Ariff Shah's majority to only 553 votes to an unknown Ramli Bulat of PKR, and most of the votes he received were said to be from postal votes.

The questions would then be:

• Shouldn't postal votes require more transparency?
• Shouldn't postal votes be reformed to give postal voters more privacy and independence?
• Shouldn't we be monitoring postal votes in the next few days?

Nevertheless, because this by-election is a larger parliamentary contest, the 490 postal voters probably cannot play any decisive role. There is also little chance of newly-imported phantom voters, because there had been few increase in voters since the 2008 Feb 5 gazetted voters roll used in the 12th GE. SPR may actually have gone over-conservative in the deletion of elderly voters.

The chart below show us that 50% of the postal voters in Permatang Pauh as of 2008 July 31 were born from 1958 to1965. This makes them mostly 43 to 50 years old.

Chart 1: Permatang Pauh - Number of Postal Voters by Year of Birth


What do Tables C and D tell us?

• Most of these postal voters 424/490 are male, and policewomen number 66.
  
• Most of these police postal voters (424/490) have IC numbers that start with "RF,"
• The other police officers have IC numbers that start with "I," "G," and "RT,"
• (The number of 424 having "RF" IC and 424 being male is a coincidence. There are female police with "RF" ICs too.)

Table C: Permatang Pauh - Postal Voters Broken Down by Gender

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN State Assembly Seat	NamaDM Voting District	NamaLokaliti Locality Name	Female	Male	Total
044/10/01/701	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Balai Polis Seberang Jaya	10	45	55
044/10/04/701	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Kor Sukarelawan Polis Siswa UITM	0	7	7
044/10/07/701	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Balai Polis Bukit Mertajam	12	71	83
044/10/07/702	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Seberang Perai Tengah	41	280	321
044/11/02/701	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Polis	0	1	1
044/12/07/701	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Balai Polis Kubang Semang	3	20	23
P044	Total postal voters			66	424	490

Table D: Permatang Pauh - Postal Voters Broken Down by IC's Leading Characters

Parl/DUN/ DM/Lokaliti	NamaDUN State Assembly Seat	NamaDM Voting District	NamaLokaliti Locality Name	RF	I	G	RT	Total
044/10/01/701	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Balai Polis Seberang Jaya	54	1	0	0	55
044/10/04/701	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Kor Sukarelawan Polis Siswa UITM	6	1	0	0	7
044/10/07/701	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Balai Polis Bukit Mertajam	67	5	2	9	83
044/10/07/702	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Seberang Perai Tengah	274	26	8	13	321
044/11/02/701	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Polis	0	1	0	0	1
044/12/07/701	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Balai Polis Kubang Semang	23	0	0	0	23
P044	Total postal voters			424	34	10	22	490

An example of a police IC is "RF123456."

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Permatang Pauh Official Electoral Roll - An Overview

We summarize the official electoral roll for Permatang Pauh P044.

How was this electoral roll built? We believe the SPR has constructed this official by-election voters' roll (said to be dated 2008 July 31) from these building blocks:

• The electoral roll gazetted on 2008 Jun 19, based on 2008 March 31 (2008Q1) data
• Delete dead voters, moved-out, and other deletion-type, voters reported as of 2008 Jun 30 (2008Q2), ungazetted voters roll
• Delete further any voters aged 100-year-old and older.

Step 3 raises the question whether proper procedures have been followed to verify the deletion, or voters 100 or more years old have simply been deleted.

What Table A below tells us:

• Permatang Pauh contains 3 state assembly seats (DUNs)
• It contains 28 voting districts (DM or Daerah Mengundi),
  
• But it contains only 25 polling or voting stations (TM, or Tempat Mengundi), because 3 paris of DMs shared TMs.
• There is a total of 420 localities or street area, or police stations (or army camps).
• There are 58,459 voters, made up of 57,969 non-postal voters and 490 postal voters.
  

Table A: P044 Permatang Pauh - An Overview

The Number of …
DUN or State Assembly Seats	3
DM or Voting Districts	28
TM or Voting/Polling Station	25
Lokaliti or Localities	420
Non-postal voters	57,969
Postal voters	490
Total Voters	58,459

What Table B below tells us:

• This is a by-election at the parliamentary level, and not DUN level, but voters are still organized under 3 DUNs.
  
• Seberang Jaya is the largest DUN, with 39% of the voters,
• Penanti is the smallest DUN, only 2/3 the size of SJ.
• There are 28 voting districts (DM), excluding postal voters,
• There are 110 voting streams (Saluran), excluding postal voters.

Table B: P044 Permatang Pauh - Voters Broken Down by DUN

Parl/DUN code	NamaDUN State Seat Name	Voters	Percentage	DM Voting Districts	Saluran Voting Streams
044/10	Seberang Jaya	22,790	39.0%	9	39
044/11	Permatang Pasir	20,289	34.7%	9	39
044/12	Penanti	15,380	26.3%	10	32
P044	Total	58,459	100.0%	28	110

Table C below shows:

• The names for 28 voting district (DM),
  
• The name for 25 voting station (TM), because those DMs in red shared the same TMs,
  
• The number of voters, ranging from 509 to 3,100 voters per DM.
• The weight of voters of each voting district (DM), ranging from 0.9% to 5.3% of total,
  

• The number of voting stream (Saluran) per DM, from 1 to mostly 5.
• Note that TM "Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri" contains 10 voting streams because it is shared by two DMs (5TM+5TM).
  
• There are two other TMs with 8 and 7 voting streams for similar reason.

• We can predict that old voters in such large TMs may be required to climb upstairs to vote. The three largest TMs are shared by two DMs each. Hopefully, there will be 10 class rooms on the ground floor to accommodate all the voting streams.
  
• If there are not enough classrooms on the ground floor, voters from the first DM may be assigned to voting streams on ground floor, while voters from the second DM may be assigned upstairs.
  
• In this case, even though the electoral roll attempts to arrange older voters (lower IC #) in the first few voting streams (Saluran), they are queued in front only on the upper floors.
  
• The solution is for SPR to split the voting center vertically (left side for one DM and right side for the others), instead of horizontally.
  

• You can also click under the "TM / Voting Station" for map links to each voting station (TM).
  

Table C: P044 Permatang Pauh Non-Postal Voters Broken Down by Voting District (28 NamaDM)

Parl/ DUN/ DM	Nama DUN / State Assembly Seat	NamaDM / Voting District	TM / Voting Station (Click link for map)	Voters	Per cent	Sa lu ran	Sha red TM?
044/10/01	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya	2,933	5.1%	5
044/10/02	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya II	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri	2,966	5.1%	5	Shared
044/10/03	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Tok Kandu	1,607	2.8%	3
044/10/04	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pauh Jaya Taman Pauh	2,168	3.7%	4
044/10/05	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya I	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya Persiaran Siakap	3,100	5.3%	5
044/10/06	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Baharu	2,274	3.9%	4
044/10/07	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Permatang Rawa	2,223	3.8%	4
044/10/08	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Tuna	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri	2,926	5.0%	5	Shared
044/10/09	Seberang Jaya	Taman Tun Hussein Onn	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tun Hussien Onn	2,127	3.7%	4
044/10	Subtotal			22,324	38.5%	39
044/11/01	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sama Gagah	2,774	4.8%	5
044/11/02	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Pasir	2,980	5.1%	5
044/11/03	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Pauh	Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Pauh	1,759	3.0%	4
044/11/04	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Indera Muda	2,750	4.7%	5
044/11/05	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Kubang Semang Jalan Kepala Batas	1,750	3.0%	4
044/11/06	Permatang Pasir	Kubang Semang	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti	1,424	2.5%	3	Shared
044/11/07	Permatang Pasir	Tanah Liat Mukim 8	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti	2,175	3.8%	4	Shared
044/11/08	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Cross Street 2	Sekolah Rendah Islam Al Masriyah Jalan Abdul Kadir	2,179	3.8%	4
044/11/09	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Tengah	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Lay Keow Permatang Pauh	2,497	4.3%	5
044/11	Subtotal			20,288	35.0%	39
044/12/01	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Guar Perahu	1,907	3.3%	4
044/12/02	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Sekolah Kebangsaan Guar Perahu	2,727	4.7%	5
044/12/03	Penanti	Telok Wang	Dewan Orang Ramai Kampung Tun Sardon Ara Kuda	599	1.0%	1
044/12/04	Penanti	Mengkuang	Sekolah Kebangsaan Mengkuang	1,901	3.3%	4
044/12/05	Penanti	Sungai Lembu	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Perkampungan Sungai Lembu	509	0.9%	1
044/12/06	Penanti	Penanti	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Mengkuang	1,061	1.8%	3
044/12/07	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Penanti	1,400	2.4%	3
044/12/08	Penanti	Sungai Semambu	Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat	1,872	3.2%	4	Shared
044/12/09	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat	1,920	3.3%	4	Shared
044/12/10	Penanti	Berapit Road	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Jit Sin (A) Jalan Berapit	1,461	2.5%	3
	Subtotal			15,357	26.5%	32
P044	Total			57,969	100.0%	110

Note:

• We are not sure about the map locations for "Sekolah Rendah Islam Al Masriyah Jalan Abdul Kadir" (try tel: 04 538 5126, 04 521 5126), "Dewan Orang Ramai Kampung Tun Sardon Ara Kuda," and "Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Perkampungan Sungai Lembu" (A.K.A. SJK(C) Kg. Sg. Lembu, try tel: 04 521 1795).
• Please inform us about any map location mistakes.
• You can look up this PDF file for Penang schools' telephone numbers: http://www.moe.gov.my/emis/emis2/emisportal2/doc/fckeditor/File/senarai_sek_08/rendah/SekRen08_PP.pdf

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

MAFREL Permatang Pauh Wants You

MAFREL, Malaysian for Free and Fair Election, a non-partisan NGO now has 84 volunteers, but is still looking for at least another 70 volunteers.

MAFREL's contact information for Northern Region and Permatang Pauh operating centre are:

• Blog: http://mafrel.wordpress.com/
• Jamal tel: 019-4742200
• Ong tel: 013-5900339
• Address: 1508, Tingkat 1, Jalan Arowana, Taman Arowana, Seberang Jaya
• Map URL at WikiMapia.org Hybrid version of map . Map version . Satellite image version

Here's an announcement from Ong:

Halo folks! Volunteers reach 84 tonight! There are non stop people coming here to join as volunteer of MAFREL today -the final count is 84 members! But don't think that this is the ceiling/peak already-Cikgu Alisa has the ambitious target of 150 members ie 5 for each voting centre (28 in all)! So please get your friends to join in this fastest growing NGO! Welcome to Christopher-1st f/time volunteer! The MAFREL Ops Centre welcome a f/timer from Ipoh, Christopher. He is waiting for a job interview for his study vacation. He has been able to help out on many things -computer, photography etc. If there are others who are interested please contact us ASAP! There has been enquiries from volunteers from KL and Sarawak-hopefully 1 or 2 more will join us soon! Training for Polling Day: Wed (Aug 20) 9pm, MAFREL's Operation Centre Since there are many new and old folks among the volunteers the Polling Day Coordinator Cikgu Aliasa plan to hold a training for Polling Day this coming Wed. Please pass the words around! We are campaigning for free and fair elections while the candidates campaign for office! Cikgu Alisa also get lots of input from Dr Halim, who is the Kelantan MAFREL Regional Director, who dropped in for 2 days and will be back Friday. He did provide inspirational influences to all around! Not only intangible influences-he also brought along another doctor from Seberang Jaya Hospital, and also his brother in law to join as volunteers! What a good help and inspiration! Campaign observation in full swing! Volunteers who come to do campaign observation in various ceramahs are growing-though we still cannot cover all the campaign functions. So we went round to all party operation centres in Seberang jaya to distribute a MAFREL card so that they will alert us to their complaints and give us their versions of it/them. We look forward to more complaints from now on! The Daily Election Index is also attracting media attention-with 2 papers enquiing today. With such publicity we/our complaint channel will be getting popular soon! So please join us in the campaign obs team-especially if you are already going to ceramahs-why not send us election offences you witness or offences where you manage to take a snapshot or 2? That's all-see you folks! Ong BK

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Permatang Pauh Lost 25 Centenarians. Did SPR follow proper procedure?

Two weeks ago, there were 25 voters in Permatang Pauh who were 100 years or older. Today, they are gone. It seems all voters 100 years or older were simply deleted at the stroke of a pen. Is SPR in such a hurry to avoid criticism as to undertake a hasty and unprofessional deletion procedure?

Up to the time of the 12th GE held on March 8, these 25 voters at 100 years or older had remained on the electoral roll in Permatang Pauh alone. In fact, you can still find them today at the 2008Q1-updated roll, gazetted on June 19, at this SPR Web page: http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarj/daftar.aspx

However, with the pending by-election, and probably the fear that some election-monitoring NGO activists are going to pay these centenarians, especially that 128-year-old voter, their due visits that can be embarassing to SPR, SPR seems to have gone on overdrive.

SPR appears to have incorporated part of the ungazetted 2008Q2 quarterly supplementary roll's into the gazetted Jun 19 roll (data up to 2008Q1), and deleted voters who have moved out or have died. The partial use of ungazetted deletion may be a conservative move, and would at least save SPR some embarassment with so many eyes focusing on Permatang Pauh voters.

Hence, these 25 voters, who exist in the June 19 gazetted roll (http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarj/daftar.aspx), have now gone missing in SPR's by-election electoral roll for Permatang Pauh here: http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/permatangpauh/prayakecil.aspx

Table A: Pematang Pauh - 25 Cenetarian Voters Finally Deleted

Tahunlahir	Age	IC
1908	100	080619075026
1908	100	081016075080
1908	100	081231348440
1908	100	080605745615
1908	100	081104755115
1908	100	080112075027
1908	100	080810025035
1908	100	080527755155
1908	100	081231348387
1907	101	071016755159
1906	102	060530745187
1906	102	060901755019
1906	102	060809075117
1906	102	061112745218
1904	104	041210075029
1904	104	040630745282
1903	105	031120755507
1903	105	031214745131
1903	105	030901755011
1901	107	011215745098
1901	107	010526745445
1900	108	001028085021
1900	108	001212745050
1900	108	000519755187
1880	128	800317075196

But did SPR follow proper verification procedure before deleting the 100 years and older?

SPR has publicly portrayed itself as a "sticker to procedures," that they cannot do this or do that, because it has to stick to the electorate information given by National Registration Department. Did NRD give SPR a list of 100-years-and-older voters to delete for Permatang Pauh? Or was there an element of expediency to avoid public scrutiny of the quality of SPR's electoral roll?

Table B shows that among voters who were over 85 years old as of 2008Q1 (gazetted Jun 19), all of those above 100 years were deleted across the board. In comparison, those below age 100 were deleted partially and sparsely, as though randomly, which indicates a more natural pattern of verification through proper procedure.

Table B: Permatang Pauh Voters over 85 years old as of 2008Q1, and those deleted before by-election

Ta hun lahir	Age	IC	Deleted for by- election		Ta hun lahir	Age	IC	Deleted for by- election		Ta hun lahir	Age	IC	Deleted for by- election
1880	128	800317075196	Deleted		1918	90	180304715170			1920	88	200906075102
1900	108	001028085021	Deleted		1918	90	180910075118	Deleted		1920	88	200322075037
1900	108	001212745050	Deleted		1918	90	181231345600			1920	88	200628075056
1900	108	000519755187	Deleted		1918	90	180511075292			1920	88	200812075056
1901	107	011215745098	Deleted		1918	90	181129075157			1920	88	201202075168
1901	107	010526745445	Deleted		1918	90	180621075023			1920	88	200526715091
1903	105	031120755507	Deleted		1918	90	181029025136			1920	88	201030075128
1903	105	031214745131	Deleted		1918	90	180726075302			1920	88	200721025061
1903	105	030901755011	Deleted		1918	90	180810075022			1920	88	200102075000
1904	104	041210075029	Deleted		1918	90	181231346769			1920	88	200404075102	Deleted
1904	104	040630745282	Deleted		1918	90	181030075042			1920	88	200828715337
1906	102	060530745187	Deleted		1918	90	180725075028			1921	87	211012025273
1906	102	060901755019	Deleted		1918	90	180319715093			1921	87	210621075167
1906	102	060809075117	Deleted		1918	90	180325075037			1921	87	210503075035
1906	102	061112745218	Deleted		1918	90	181216075040			1921	87	211228075106
1907	101	071016755159	Deleted		1918	90	181122075082			1921	87	210720715393
1908	100	080619075026	Deleted		1918	90	180928025397			1921	87	210611085177
1908	100	081016075080	Deleted		1918	90	180726075062			1921	87	210817075046
1908	100	081231348440	Deleted		1918	90	180726085148	Deleted		1921	87	210705075199
1908	100	080605745615	Deleted		1918	90	180824075090	Deleted		1921	87	210616075066
1908	100	081104755115	Deleted		1918	90	181016715568			1921	87	211001075048
1908	100	080112075027	Deleted		1918	90	180513715222			1921	87	210809715154
1908	100	080810025035	Deleted		1918	90	180802075022			1921	87	211209715091
1908	100	080527755155	Deleted		1918	90	180817075017			1921	87	211008075075
1908	100	081231348387	Deleted		1918	90	181201075267			1921	87	211101075010
1909	99	091231076907			1918	90	180712025136			1921	87	210610075102
1909	99	090520745172			1918	90	181011075290			1921	87	210420075048
1910	98	100404715140			1918	90	181231075292			1921	87	211016085097
1910	98	101231365975			1918	90	180801075039			1921	87	210530075065
1910	98	100713075028			1918	90	180617075194			1921	87	210307075046
1911	97	110424715315			1918	90	180706075102			1921	87	210328075088
1911	97	110201715123			1918	90	181122075090	Deleted		1921	87	210726075083
1911	97	110810755227			1918	90	181115075156			1921	87	211208075010	Deleted
1911	97	111111085046			1918	90	180128075011			1921	87	211011025079
1912	96	121212075049			1918	90	180829075284			1921	87	210304715386
1912	96	121129075021			1918	90	181224075104			1921	87	210102075093
1912	96	120406075085			1918	90	180707755169			1921	87	211015745014
1913	95	130708755317			1918	90	180324025038			1921	87	210626075035
1913	95	130907755133			1918	90	180115025058			1921	87	210724085149
1913	95	131231075158			1918	90	181204075158			1921	87	211125025181
1913	95	130120715453			1918	90	180911075048			1921	87	210723025136
1913	95	130530745284			1918	90	180821075028			1921	87	210224075075
1913	95	130213075029			1918	90	180630745105			1921	87	211106715080
1913	95	130725075110	Deleted		1918	90	180325075176			1921	87	210610075049
1913	95	131113075034			1918	90	180207075159			1921	87	210105075005
1913	95	130901755095			1918	90	180718075214			1921	87	210318075084
1913	95	130629075057			1918	90	180919715388	Deleted		1921	87	211026075095
1913	95	130701755381			1918	90	180504715482			1921	87	210913075169
1913	95	130101745016			1919	89	190105075077			1921	87	210818085035
1914	94	140707755111			1919	89	190629715098	Deleted		1921	87	211009075018
1914	94	141102075046			1919	89	190205025034			1922	86	221106075158
1914	94	140225075084			1919	89	190321715390			1922	86	221201075084
1914	94	140311715260			1919	89	190412715433			1922	86	220817025128
1914	94	140610075013			1919	89	190120715271			1922	86	220617075091
1914	94	141231268717			1919	89	190116025358			1922	86	220717075056
1914	94	140612755055			1919	89	191217025343			1922	86	220709075080
1914	94	141215745157			1919	89	190704075001			1922	86	220112075096
1914	94	141124715251			1919	89	190828075070			1922	86	220103075035
1914	94	140823715205			1919	89	190701715106	Deleted		1922	86	220712075065
1915	93	150511715010			1919	89	191018075006			1922	86	220624075014
1915	93	150511715387			1919	89	190522075000			1922	86	220731075028
1915	93	150529715158			1919	89	190417715280			1922	86	221226075099	Deleted
1915	93	151203715136			1919	89	190107025196			1922	86	221107075117
1915	93	150725075012			1919	89	190806075088			1922	86	221130025097
1915	93	150822075030			1919	89	190818075042			1922	86	220318075016
1915	93	150527075003			1919	89	191228025226	Deleted		1922	86	220411075109
1915	93	151103715104			1919	89	191026075065			1922	86	220909075077
1915	93	150516715255			1919	89	191213075183			1922	86	221118075200
1915	93	151226075047			1920	88	201231345032			1922	86	220726075066	Deleted
1915	93	150709075012			1920	88	200312075092			1922	86	220724075003
1915	93	150513715460			1920	88	201027025138			1922	86	221206075139	Deleted
1915	93	150204075068			1920	88	200103715188			1922	86	220626715214
1916	92	161221075004			1920	88	200401715389			1922	86	220627075159
1916	92	160918075106			1920	88	200716715092			1922	86	220610075072
1916	92	160110715086			1920	88	200402075010			1922	86	221209075062
1916	92	160213075018			1920	88	200717075082			1922	86	220120075088
1916	92	160827075004			1920	88	201121075174			1922	86	220610075048
1916	92	160102075058			1920	88	200904715428			1922	86	221110715437
1916	92	160327075067	Deleted		1920	88	200724075099			1922	86	220203075008
1916	92	160810075008			1920	88	200903075078			1922	86	221016075197
1917	91	171215745023			1920	88	200824085147			1922	86	220423075026
1917	91	171031075037			1920	88	200105075022			1922	86	220115075083
1917	91	170404075028			1920	88	200224715088			1922	86	220623715120
1917	91	171104105082			1920	88	200103075045			1922	86	220926075028
1917	91	170319715238			1920	88	200513715260			1922	86	220218075086
1917	91	170726075020			1920	88	200408075169			1922	86	220920715063
1917	91	170726075127	Deleted		1920	88	200718075180			1922	86	220819715202
1917	91	170228715267			1920	88	200422075122			1922	86	220403075010
1917	91	170912715474	Deleted		1920	88	201113075086			1922	86	221105075092
1917	91	171205715365			1920	88	200622025058	Deleted		1922	86	220319085101
1917	91	170212715078			1920	88	201117075083			1922	86	220110075068
1917	91	170710745157			1920	88	200628715260			1922	86	221018075107
1918	90	180618715384	Deleted		1920	88	200805075090			1922	86	221002075030
1918	90	180814075070			1920	88	200726075084			1922	86	220629075064
1918	90	180524715092			1920	88	201231079870			1922	86	221231026195
1918	90	181001715282			1920	88	200225715223			1922	86	221121075076
1918	90	180711075086			1920	88	201209715228			1922	86	221028075063
1918	90	180525075138			1920	88	200724085035			1922	86	220228715032
1918	90	180620715340			1920	88	200802075052			1922	86	220121715163
1918	90	180530075116			1920	88	200809755085			1922	86	220322075086
1918	90	180711085110			1920	88	200726075279			1922	86	220822075074
1918	90	180615085188			1920	88	201020715312			1922	86	220507715238
1918	90	180727075128			1920	88	200321715362			1922	86	220302075097
1918	90	180120075084			1920	88	200227075178			1922	86	221216715216	Deleted

Note: If you can't see the whole table width, reduce your browser text size (Menu>View>Text Size). You can also click, drag, highlight the table, copy, and paste special, value, into your Excel spreadsheet for easier viewing.

Here is a summary of changes to voters in Permatang Pauh over 85 years old, and what happen to them in the electoral roll.

Table C: Number of voters over 85 years old - Last gazetted, deleted, left for by-election

	Last gazetted	Deleted for by-election	For by-election
Gazetted	2008/06/19	Not yet	Not yet
Data date	2008/03/31	2008/07/31	2008/07/31
Age
86 to 89	160	-10	150
90 to 94	103	-9	94
94 to 99	24	-1	23
100 to 128	25	-25	0
Total	312	-45	267

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

P044 By-Election: 2008Q1 Roll Gazetted Jun 19, With Further Deletions

For the Permatang Pauh by-election, SPR is using 2008Q1 supplemental voters roll gazetted on June 19, appended to 20080205-gazetted data used in the 12th GE, but further deleting dead and move-out voters up to 2008Q2 or 2008 Jul 31

In its press release partially quoted below, SPR is describing a set of electoral roll that is close to our pro-forma electoral roll, except SPR further deletes dead voters and moved-out voters updated to either 2008Q2 or 2008 Jul 31. The further deletion of dead voters and move-outs, based on the ungazetted changes in 2008Q2, explains why the total number of 58,459 voters is lower than our pro-forma estimate of 58,761.

It sounds like new voters registered in April, May, June will not be able to vote. But dead voters and move-outs updates in the same months of April, May, June, will be deleted from the 2008-Jun-19-gazetted data (data as of 2008Q1).

There are several dates involved in any one roll:

(a) date of data: 2008 Mar 31 (incoporating 2008Q1 supplemental roll)
(b) date of gazette: 2008 Jun 19
(c) date of partial additional changes: 2008 Jul 31 (to delete further dead voters and move-outs, based on ungazetted changes in 2008Q2 up to June 30, perhaps even up to July 31).

If the above understanding is correct, then SPR is being conservative. Perhaps even over-conservative to the extent of using 2008Q1 data, but further deleting ungazetted dead voters and move-outs from 2008Q2. If this guess is correct, we have less to worry about recently-imported phantoms.

Voters verification specifically for the P044 by-election http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/permatangpauh/prayakecil.aspx

Quoted from SPR statement at http://www.spr.gov.my/index/Pengumuman/kenyataan_akhbar.htm

4.1 Tarikh Writ dikeluarkan : 7 OGOS 2008

4.2 Tarikh Notis dikeluarkan : 8 OGOS 2008

4.3 Tarikh Penamaan Calon : 16 OGOS 2008

4.4 Tarikh Pengundian : 26 OGOS 2008
(Jika ada pertandingan)

5. Bagi tujuan pilihan raya kecil ini, menurut Peraturan 9 Peraturan-Peraturan Pilihan Raya (Pendaftaran Pemilih) 2002, Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya menentukan bahawa Daftar Pemilih Induk 2007 yang diwartakan pada 5 Februari 2008 dan Daftar Pemilih Tambahan Suku Tahun Pertama tahun 2008 yang diwartakan pada 19 Jun 2008 dan dikemaskinikan sehingga 31 Julai 2008, hendaklah digunakan dalam pilihan raya kecil P.44 Permatang Pauh ini. Seramai 58,459 pemilih yang terdiri daripada 57,969 pemilih biasa dan 490 pemilih pos adalah layak untuk mengundi dalam pilihan raya kecil bagi P.44 Permatang Pauh ini.
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Count of P044 Voting Districts (DMs), Polling Stations (TMs), and Streams (Saluran)

Updated Version: MalaysiaKini.com reported this:

The Permatang Pauh by-election is slated for Aug 26 (Tuesday) - with nomination day on Aug 16 (Saturday) - announced the Election Commission this morning.

The EC also said it would use the latest electoral roll for the by-election, which will see 57,969 registered voters being eligible to vote as of July 31. There are also 490 postal voters.

---

For preview purpose, we analyze a "pro forma" electoral roll for Permatang Pauh, P044 updated to 2008Mar 31. It contained 58,761 voters, including 491 postal voters, distributed over 28 voting districts (DM), 25 polling stations (TM), and 111 voting streams (Saluran).

The two tables below are prepared from our "pro forma" electoral roll that approximates the one gazetted by the SPR on 2008 Jun 19, by combining the full electoral roll gazetted on 2008 Feb 3 with the 2008Q1 supplementary rolls. See Permatang Pauh By-Election - Which Electoral Roll? for details.

DUNs, voter counts, and breakdown into DMs, TM, and Saluran (voting streams). Table A shows that:

• The Permatang Pauh parlliamentary constituency contains 58,791 voters.
• It contains 3 DUN or state assembly seats,
• N10 or Seberang Jaya contains 22,880 voters, 9 DMs, 8 TMs, and 39 Salurans,
  
• N11 or Permatang Pasir contains 20,397 voters, 9 DMs, 8 TMs, and 40 Salurans,
• N12 Penanti contains 15,484 voters, 10 DMs, 9 TMs, and 32 Salurans.
• A "saluran" is a voting stream, or a voting room, also where votes are counted independently, on-location, after the polling stations close.
• See maps at Understanding Permatang Pauh P044

Table A: P044 Permatang Pauh's Counts of Voters, DMs, TM, by DUN

Parl/DUN code	NamaDUN	Count of Voter	Count of DM	Count of TM	Count of Saluran
P044/N10	Seberang Jaya	22,880	9	8	39
P044/N11	Permatang Pasir	20,397	9	8	40
P044/N12	Penanti	15,484	10	9	32
	Total	58,761	28	25	111

List of all DMs, TMs, and Voter Count for each DM. Table B shows that:

• P044 contains 28 DMs (Daerah Mengundi or Voting Districts),
• It also contains 25 TMs (Tempat Mengundi, or Polling Stations),
• That means 3 pairs of DMs are sharing the same TMs. These shared TMs are highlighted in blue and bold-face below,
  

• N10, Seberang Jaya, contains 9 DMs, and 8 TMs, because Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri is shared as TM by 2 DMs (Seberang Jaya II and Jalan Tuna).
  
• N11, Permatang Pasir, contains 9 DMs, and 8 TMs, because Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti is shared as TM by 2 DMs (Kubang Semang and Tanah Liat Mukim 8)
• N12, Penanti, contains 10 DMs, and 9 TMs, because Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat is used as TM by 2 DMs (Sungai Semambu and Tanah Liat Mukim 9).

• The largest TM or voting station is Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri, which serves as the voting station for both DM Seberang Jaya II (044/10/02) and DM Jalan Tuna (044/10/08).
  
• Total voters assigned to Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri is 6,085, before fully taking into account 2008Q1 voter changes.
• Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri requires 10 voting streams (Saluran) to handle the number of voters.

• The second largest voting station is Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat, which serves as the voting station for both Sungai Semambu (044/12/08) and Tanah Liat Mukim 9 (044/12/09).
  
• Total voters assigned to Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat is 3,819, before fully taking into account 2008Q1 voter changes.
• Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat requires 8 voting streams (Saluran) to handle the number of voters.

• The third largest voting station is Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti, which serves as the voting station for both Kubang Semang (044/11/06) and Tanah Liat Mukim 8 (044/11/07).
  
• Total voters assigned to Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti is 3,616, before fully taking into account 2008Q1 voter changes.
• Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti requires 9 voting streams (Saluran) to handle the number of voters.
  

Table B: P044's Voter Count By Daerah Mengundi (DM or Voting District)

Parl/DUN/DM code	NamaDUN	NamaDM (Daerah Mengundi)	TM (Tempat Mengundi)	Voter Count	Saluran Count	Size Rank
044/10/01	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Sembilang	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya	3,000	5	6
044/10/02	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya II	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri	2,972	10	1
044/10/03	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Pertama	Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Tok Kandu	1,619	3
044/10/04	Seberang Jaya	Kampong Belah Dua	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pauh Jaya Taman Pauh	2,181	4
044/10/05	Seberang Jaya	Seberang Jaya I	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya Persiaran Siakap	3,113	5	4
044/10/06	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Bahru	Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Baharu	2,280	4
044/10/07	Seberang Jaya	Simpang Ampat	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Permatang Rawa	2,645	4	10
044/10/08	Seberang Jaya	Jalan Tuna	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri	2,935		1
044/10/09	Seberang Jaya	Taman Tun Hussein Onn	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tun Hussien Onn	2,135	4
044/11/01	Permatang Pasir	Sama Gagah	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sama Gagah	2,793	5	7
044/11/02	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Ara	Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Pasir	3,000	5	5
044/11/03	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Pauh	Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Pauh	1,766	4
044/11/04	Permatang Pasir	Bukit Indra Muda	Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Indera Muda	2,761	5	8
044/11/05	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Pelet	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Kubang Semang Jalan Kepala Batas	1,763	5
044/11/06	Permatang Pasir	Kubang Semang	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti	1,431	7	3
044/11/07	Permatang Pasir	Tanah Liat Mukim 8	Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti	2,185		3
044/11/08	Permatang Pasir	Kampong Cross Street 2	Maktab Adabi Jalan Abdul Kadir Sekolah Rendah Islam Al-Masriyah, Jalan Abdul Kadir	2,195	4
044/11/09	Permatang Pasir	Permatang Tengah	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Lay Keow Permatang Pauh	2,503	5
044/12/01	Penanti	Guar Perahu	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Guar Perahu	1,924	4
044/12/02	Penanti	Kuala Mengkuang	Sekolah Kebangsaan Guar Perahu	2,736	5	9
044/12/03	Penanti	Telok Wang	Dewan Kelas (Kafa) Kampong Tun Sardon Ara Kuda Dewan Orang Ramai, Kampung Tun Sardon	606	1
044/12/04	Penanti	Mengkuang	Sekolah Kebangsaan Mengkuang	1,912	4
044/12/05	Penanti	Sungai Lembu	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Perkampungan Sungai Lembu	510	1
044/12/06	Penanti	Penanti	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Mengkuang	1,070	3
044/12/07	Penanti	Kubang Ulu	Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Penanti	1,435	3
044/12/08	Penanti	Sungai Semambu	Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat	1,889	8	2
044/12/09	Penanti	Tanah Liat Mukim 9	Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanah Liat	1,930		2
044/12/10	Penanti	Berapit Road	Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Jit Sin (A) Jalan Berapit	1,472	3
	Total			58,761	111

Note:

• Red, bold, font indicate the same voting station or TM is used by two DMs,
• You can copy this table, simply by clicking-and-dragging to darken this table, then copying, and going to Excel, selecting Menu>Edit>Paste Special>Text and OK.

Important for election monitoring, because:

• the information will help plan personnel placement at various polling centers (TM), and
• it will help make an estimation of the "saluran" or voting rooms, that are important for vote counting.

• For example, based on the tables above, an election observation group will need to have
  
• At least 25 field teams on polling day, to be able to cover every one of the 25 TM or Voting Stations,
• At least 111 observers, to be able to observe each voting stream (Saluran).
• The team allocation should refer to Tables A and B.
  
• For example, at least 10 observers should be dispatched to Sekolah Kebangsaan Seberang Jaya II Lengkok Tenggiri just to observe each voting stream and each vote counting room. This does not count the general observers outside of the voting stream class room.
  

Help Mark the TM on WikiMapia and Give me the URLs

You can help complete the above information by working on http://wikimapia.org. Please "create places" in WikiMapia.org for the schools used as polling station, using the schools' full names shown above. Or if they have already been created, find their URL at WikiMapia.

Supply us with their URL in WikiMapia.org using the comment box below. I can add the URLs in the above table, to help election observers plan personnel allocation, and find each school.

Disclaimer:

The above tables are based on a "pro forma" electoral roll for data up to 2008 Mar 31, and is meant to approximate the electoral roll for P044 gazetted on 2008 Jun 19 by the SPR. We have built it by appending the 2008Q1 quarterly supplemental roll of voter changes onto the data of 2007 Dec 31, which was gazetted on 2008 Feb 5 and used in the 12th GE.

We make all efforts to be accurate, but the data may still contain errors. The SPR may also decide to use a different set of data for the by-election, such as the 2008 Jun 30 (2008Q2) data, to be gazetted at a future date.
Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

What's the rush to use the undisplayed, unverified, ungazetted July 31 electoral roll?

Why is SPR using the July 31 electoral roll that has never been displayed for voters to verify, and has not been gazetted, for the Permatang Pauh by-election, when even the earlier June 30 roll has not yet been gazetted?

Less than two weeks ago in late July, SPR displayed the supplemental rolls with data updated to Jun 30 (2008Q2). But even this roll has yet not been gazetted. On SPR's site at http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarj/, what you see as of today is the electoral roll with data only updated to Mar 31 (2008Q1) gazetted as of June 19.

So now SPR is skipping the ungazetted 2008 Jun 30 data to use Jul 31 data? What's the rush to use an undisplayed, unverified, ungazetted electoral roll?
Following is Bernama report on the electoral roll:

Permatang Pauh Voters Urged To Check Updated Electoral Roll August 06, 2008 18:27 PM PENANG, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- The Election Commission (EC) will be using electoral roll updated until July 31 for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election on Aug 26. State deputy director Ilyani Farha Mohammad urged voters in Permatang Pauh to check the electoral roll via its website http://www.spr.gov.my. "In the March 8 general election, Permatang Pauh parliamentary had 58,449 voters, increasing to 58,459, after it was updated on July 31," she told Bernama here today. EC also set up 28 polling centres for the last general election. Ilyani said for the coming Permatang Pauh by-election, there will be two changes to the polling centres. The one at Maktab Adabi, Jalan Abdul Kadir will be changed to Sekolah Rendah Islam Al-Masriyah, Jalan Abdul Kadir while the one at Dewan Kelas (KAFA) Kampung Tun Sardon, Ara Kuda will be changed to Dewan Orang Ramai, Kampung Tun Sardon. "We urge the public to take note of these changes and will be putting up notices soon," she said. Maktab Perguruan Tuanku Bainun will be retained as the nomination and ballot counting centre. Ilyani said the state EC office was making preparations for the by-election and will be using the equipments used during the March 8 general election. EC has fixed Aug 16 as the nomination day and Aug 26 as polling day for the Permatang Pauh by-election. -- BERNAMA

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Understanding Permatang Pauh P044 (updated 19/8/08)

This post links to basic data and maps for Permatang Pauh (and the specific voter numbers have been updated to reflect the official electoral roll).

Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency (P044) is a large seat in the middle of Seberang Prai, stretching from roughly east of the north-south express way to the Kedah border. It contains 58,459 voters.

For voting history, including parliamentary and state seat candidates, voter racial background, and voting results, from 2004 and 2008, please see Undi.info at:

• http://www.undi.info/ax/state/pn/2008/parliament/P44.html
• http://undi.info/ax/state/pn/2008/states/N10/P44.html
• http://undi.info/ax/state/pn/2008/states/N11/P44.html
• http://undi.info/ax/state/pn/2008/states/N12/P44.html

The constituency delineation maps are originally from Undi.info, at

• http://undi.info/state/pn/2008/parliament.html
• http://undi.info/state/pn/2008/states.html

State Assembly Seat Breakdown

The official electoral roll we obtain on 15/8/08, with data as of 2008 Jul 31 for P044 contains three state assembly seats, or DUN, (N10, N11, and N12) and these number of voters each:

Parl / DUN code	NamaDUN	Voter Count
044/10	Seberang Jaya	22,790
044/11	Permatang Pasir	20,289
044/12	Penanti	15,380
	Total	58,459

WikiMapia.org Satellite and Map

Click for a larger image on a new window. Permatang Pauh is roughly east of PLUS and west of the Kedah border, in the middle section.

Sources:

• Map of Permatang Pauh area at http://wikimapia.org
• Satelite map of Permatang Pauh area at http://wikimapia.org

You can help out by marking all the schools at WikiMapia.org that will be used as voting stations, so that volunteers can find them more easily.
Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Pro Forma Electoral Roll for P044 for 2008Q1

"Pro Forma," or projected, electoral roll will speed planning and by-election monitoring at P044, Permatang Pauh

What we don't have (as of 5/8/08), don't know, or will find out too late:

• We don't yet know which electoral roll SPR will use for the P044 by-election. Will it be the roll gazetted on 2008 Jun 19 that incorporated 2008Q1 voter changes, or some version that incorporates 2008Q2 changes, to be gazetted in late August?
• We don't have the finalized version of the 2008 Jun 19 electoral roll,
• We don't have the 2008Q2 electoral changes (supplementary roll).

However, we do have the 20080205-gazetted full roll and the 2008Q1 supplemental roll, and I can append the latter to the former, to create a "pro forma" version of the 2008 Jun 19 electoral roll, specifically for P044 Permatang Pauh.

Such a "pro forma" electoral roll for P044 is useful, because:

• The campaign period will be very short,
  
• We don't have to wait for SPR to distribute the roll in CD and MS Access file,
• We don't have to wait to process the SPR's MS Access file,
• We can immediately start to list the Daerah Mengundi, Tempat Mengundi, and other details, to work with election monitoring volunteers
  

However, such a "pro forma" roll has its drawbacks:

• It may contain minor errors in voter names,
• It may not reflect additions or changes in Tempat Mengundi and the schools used, compared to the recent 2008 Mar 2, 12th General Election.
• While we project for the roll to include 2008Q1 changes, the SPR may go further and incorporate 2008Q2 voter changes (which we do not have).
  

But making use of our "pro forma" electoral roll, below we compare changes in voters, localities, postal voters, etc, between the 11th GE (2004) and the quarter of 2008Q1:

Table A: P044 - Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, Pulau Pinang

	2004/03/02	2008/02/05	2008Q1	20080619
	11th GE	12th GE	voter changes	pro forma
DUN, state assembly seats	3	3	3	3
DM, voting districts	25	28	28	28
TM, voting stations		25		25
Lokaliti, localities	403	419	218	420
Postal voters	91	492	1	491
All voters	54,041	58,449	658	58,761
Change voter		4,408		312
Change %		8.2%		0.5%
2008Q1 Changes in Supplementary Roll for P044
Addition into list - New registration			373
Addition into list - Change of address registration (move in)			112
Deletion from list - Voter change address (move out)			-84
Deletion from list - Death			-89
Total count of voters			658
Net changes in voters			312

Comments on Table A

• Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, P044, of Pulau Pinang has 3 DUNS (state assembly seats), a number that has not changed since 2004, namely
  
  • 044/10 Seberang Jaya
  • 044/11 Permatang Pasir
  • 044/12 Penanti
• Voting districts (Daerah Mengundi), however, has apparently increased from 25 in 2004 to 28 now. We will list the DM in a future post.
• We only have data on the Polling Stations (Tempat Mengundi) for 2008/02/05 data, and there are 25 TMs, meaning 3 of the 28 DMs are sharing TM with other DMs.

Localities

• Localities are streets, army camps, or postal locations. The number of localities increased from 403 in 2004 (11th GE) to 419 in 2008/02/05 (12th GE). There has been one additional localities added in 2008Q1.
• The additional locality is 044/10/01/059 Seberang Jaya/Jalan Sembilang/Lorong Sembilang 33

Postal Voters

• There were only 91 postal voters in 2004 (11th GE).
  
• The number of voters jumped to 492 in the 2008 roll for the 12th GE, with the inlcusion of 404 postal voters from the newly added locality of "Balai Polis Bukit Mertajam."
  
• In 2008Q1, one police officer moved out of Balai Polis BM and P044, reducing the postal voter to 491.

Total voters

• The total number of voters in 11th GE was 54,041.
• Voters increased by 8% to 58,449 by 20080205 for the 12th GE .
• The 2008Q1 supplemental electoral roll included 658 voter changes, comprising 373 new voters (addition), 112 voters moving in (addition), -84 voters moving out (deletion), and -89 deletion due to death.
  
• Net changes involved 312 more voters in 2008Q1.
• The ending number of voters by 2008Q1 totalled 58,761 voters.

Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.

Permatang Pauh By-Election - Which Electoral Roll?

Will SPR have time to gazette 2008Q2 supplementary electoral roll, or will it rely on the roll gazetted on 2008 Jun 19, that incorporated 2008Q1 voter changes?

PKR leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail resigned from her Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat on July 31 to make way for a come-back by her husband Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar confirmed he will contest in the resulting by-election.

SPR will meet on August 6 (Wed) to decide on which electoral roll to use, when to issue the writ on by-election, nomination date, polling date, among other things. The Permatang Pauh (P044) parliamentary by-election may use either of these voter data sets:

(a) 2008Q1-supplemented roll, gazetted June 19, or
(b) 2008Q2-supplemented roll, to be gazetted in late August or September.

More historical perspective:

Table A: Comparison of Data Dates

Supp roll	Data date	Gazetted	Note
2007Q4	2007/12/31	2008/02/05	Used in GE 2008/03/05
2008Q1	2008/03/31	2008/06/19	To be used in PP 2008 Sep?
2008Q2	2008/06/30	2008 Sep?	To be used in PP 2008 Sep?

We don't have the 2008Q2 supplemental rolls to work out the next electoral roll.

We also don't have the 2008 Jun 19 gazetted full roll that incorporate the 2008Q1 changes.

A check on SPR Web site showed the 2008Q1 supplementary roll for P044 Permatang Pauh was indeed gazetted. (Sometimes, the supplementary roll could not be gazetted because it has been objected by voters or political party and. Not in this case.) We randomly checked several voters from P044 supplementary roll for 2008Q1 did find the changes reflected in the gazetted roll on SPR Web site http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarj/daftar.aspx

However, I will work out a "pro forma" or projected electoral roll based on 2008/02/05 full roll and the 2008Q1 "changes" roll. It should be close to identical to the one gazetted on 2008 Jun 19.
Read more! Full post may contain more data and tables.