For married couple Patrick Shannon and Rita Juliet, being able to cast their votes on Friday (Sept 1) in this year’s Presidential Election was a homecoming of sorts.

The retirees, both 77, had not voted in more than a decade as they were living in the United States. When they returned to Singapore in 2020 just shy of the General Election that year, their names had been struck off the register of electors.

Ahead of this year’s election, Mr Shannon made sure to apply to have their names included again.

When asked why he insisted on doing so, Mr Shannon said: “Because I’m back. I’m a Singaporean, so I must be involved in all the things that happen in Singapore.”

Speaking to TODAY at the Waterway Primary School polling centre in Punggol where they cast their votes, the couple said that they were “very happy” and “very thankful” to the personnel who helped them in their voting.

The couple are both visually impaired. Mr Shannon had lost his eyesight almost four decades ago, while Ms Juliet lost part of her vision in recent years due to glaucoma and cataracts.

Mr Shannon was on Friday assisted by an election official, who read the candidate options aloud to him, before helping him to mark his choice. Ms Juliet, who still has partial vision, was able to vote on her own.

The process was “very smooth” and took them about 10 minutes in total, Mr Shannon said.

The pair were among the 1,406,182 Singaporeans who turned up to vote in the first four hours of polling, which began at 8am.

In an update on the voter turnout, the Elections Department Singapore (ELD) said that as at 5pm, 2,302,996 Singaporeans had cast their votes. This accounted for 85 per cent of the total number of eligible electors.

“Voters who have yet to vote are advised to cater sufficient time to cast their votes before the close of polls at 8pm,” ELD said.

Earlier at 3pm, 74 per cent, or 2,004,961 Singaporeans had cast their votes.

“Voting is proceeding smoothly, with only a handful of the 1,264 polling stations with short queues,” ELD said at the time.

Before that, at noon, about 52 per cent, or 1,406,182 Singaporeans had turned up to cast their votes in the first four hours of polling.

More than 2.7 million Singaporeans are expected to vote on Friday for the country’s ninth President.

This year’s three-way contest marks the first contested presidency since 2011’s election.

The candidates this round are Mr Ng Kok Song, former chief investment officer of sovereign wealth fund GIC, former Cabinet minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Mr Tan Kin Lian, former chief executive officer of NTUC Income insurance cooperative.

‘QUEUE BUILD-UP’

To reduce waiting time, electors may cast their votes across 1,264 polling stations — a 15 per cent increase from the 1,097 polling stations in the 2020 General Election. Polling stations will also have more registration and ballot paper counters.

In a statement at 8.40am on Friday morning, however, ELD said that there was a “queue build-up” at some stations when the polls first opened. The e-registration system was having some glitches.

In a separate statement at 9.55am, ELD said that the queue situation had improved at most polling stations.

Married couple Tommie Choo, 36, and Nadine Lim, 35, who were at their polling station at Block 65 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh Pavilion, told TODAY that they witnessed the system start to lag shortly after polls opened at 8am.

“The iPad was going down and it couldn’t scan. I think they were preparing to switch to a hard copy for registration,” Ms Lim said.

Ms Nyrsina Lim, a 29-year-old lab technician who spoke to TODAY around 9.45am, said that she had arrived at Waterway Primary School at around 8.30am, but decided to return at a later time with her son after she noticed that the queue had spilled outside of the school’s premises.

She added that it was a “good idea” to head home first, as the crowd had eased by the time she returned to the polling centre around 9.35am, and she was able to cast her vote within 10 minutes of arriving.

'GREAT' TO BE 'DOING DUTY AS CITIZEN'

Speaking to TODAY at Block 65 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh Pavilion, polytechnic student Zharfan, 22, said that he felt nervous because it was his first time voting in an election. He declined to give his full name.

While he found the experience to be a “swift and smooth” process, he did encounter a hiccup during registration.

“When I was registering with the person at the counter, I think his system was slower so I had to go to his colleague who had a faster system.”

For Madam Luk, 57, who became a Singapore citizen “recently” after living in the country for more than 40 years, it was also her first time voting.

When asked how she felt as a first-time voter, she said: “I feel great. It’s like I am doing my duty as a citizen.”

Madam Luk, who declined to give her full name, told TODAY that she found the whole process quite smooth, even though she waited in line for half an hour.

Her only concern came from having to use the new X-stamp to mark her ballot paper. She had to try it out on her polling card first, in case she stamped outside the right box.

Human resource executive Nadine Lim, 35, who is also a first-time voter, shared Madam Luk's concern.

“The first time I stamped, only a little bit of the cross appeared so I had to move the paper and stamp again. So I don’t know if my vote will be counted.”

She also said that while she found it useful to have a QR code on the polling card, which voters can scan to check on the polling station queue, she would have preferred to have seen the estimated waiting time instead of the number of people in the queue.

For another first-time voter Iffah Wirdani, 23, casting her vote had turned into a family affair.

The 23-year-old student, who is interning in the arts management sector, arrived at Waterway Primary School with her parents around 8.30am. The family had planned to head to the polling centre together.

“I think it’s nice to go with your family. It’s not everyday that I get to spend time with them, because I’m always working. To have this day to go together and vote together is very nice.”

Ms Iffah and her parents were later joined outside the school by her 19-year-old sister Izzah Wardina. While the sister is not yet eligible to vote, the family was looking forward to enjoying breakfast together, given that it was a public holiday.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CAST VOTES

Two of the three presidential candidates, Mr Ng and Mr Tan, cast their votes in the morning. They spoke briefly with the media at the sites of their respective polling centres.

Mr Ng accompanied his fiancee Sybil Lau as she cast her vote at Cairnhill Community Club around 9.10am, before the pair headed to Katong Community Centre together, where Mr Ng cast his ballot at about 10am.

When asked by reporters about his “confidence level”, Mr Ng said that it was “up to the people of Singapore”.

Mr Tan arrived at Anderson Serangoon Junior College around 9.20am with his wife, son and daughter-in-law to cast their votes.

Speaking to the media, Mr Tan said of his bid for presidency: “It has been a very worthwhile exercise. I’m very heartened by the very warm reception I got from my walkabouts, as well as my train rides.”

Mr Tan is known to regularly take the public transport and has talked about this on his social media pages.

He added that he wanted to thank his supporters and family members for their time in the past month or so, and told of his plans to visit a few counting centres later in the day.

Mr Tharman and his wife are expected to cast their votes at Raffles Girls’ Primary School in the evening.

For President Madam Halimah Yacob, who is also the country’s first female President, she arrived at Chung Cheng High School (Main) around 8.10am to cast her vote. She was joined by her husband Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong cast his vote at Crescent Girls’ School in the morning as well.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Today Online

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]