My experience as a Polling Agent

When W asked me whether I'm keen to volunteer, it did take me some time to think about it, even till the day that I was suppose to go soompah at the HQ, I was still undecisive. But after today, I'm glad I did it. I'm happy to share my experience here as I feel that this should be an experience that every citizen who cared about the country should participate in at least once in their lifetime.

What my job was:
To reassure voters with my presence that there is a representative from the party to make sure that the proceedings are fair and in accordance to the rules set so that they can vote in confidence (of course the other party sent their people down as well). But this was under the guise of checking off names from the namelist so it looked like we are also there to do "serious" work.

What the procedure was like:
1) I arrived at 2.30pm, with my polling agent appointment form and oath of secrecy form, showed it to the people who way laid me along the way and walked in to pass the form to the ARO (Assistant Returning Officer). But when I arrive, these civil servants (CS, also known as presiding officers) don't seemed very well-trained, hemmed and hawed for a while before they knew what to do and gave me a tag to identify me as a polling agent.

2) Took over from the morning shift people who briefed me briefly because it turns out that all of them had no such experience before either. Proceed to sit down and start striking names off the list and also to observe the surrounding to make sure that those CS do their job in accordance (I glared at one CS who was talking to the granny sitting on the wheelchair, supposedly telling her what to do with her ballot paper and I thought they were not suppose to talk?! Anyway he was very nervous after my glare and came running to me to explain what he was doing hahaha)

3) At 8pm, when the polling ended, I was there to witness the sealing of the ballot boxes and also signed my name on the ballot box (not sure if that's suppose to be the procedure coz it turned out that I was the only one who signed the boxes when I checked notes with other fellow volunteers). Make sure they wrap the box up and carry it up to the counting station which in this case was in the school hall above. Then I left after they wrapped the box.

What I observed:
1) Voting is definitely secret! The arrangement is such that (and I believe it's the same for all polling stations) there are 2 tables where 2 CS will sit side by side, one to check the identity card and the polling card of the voter against the register, strike off the voter from the register and pass the documents to the one sitting beside him/her who will read out the serial number and name, which the 2 polling agents sitting across them will strike out from their own namelist prepared by the party. After reading out, this CS will proceed to issue out the ballot paper after he/she note the serial number on the booklet (it's like writing cheque in the old days where there's a chit by the side where you will write the details and in this case the serial number of the polling card). The voter will make his/her choice and dump it into the sea of other votes in the ballot box.
But I hear you say "Isn't the ballot paper serialised as well?" Yes it is, but it is to check that the number of ballot paper issued out tallies with the number of voters that came. Of course, if they wanted to trace you back, they can but I don't believe that they will deploy mass number of people go through the sea of ballot paper, match the serial number of the ballot paper with their record on that ballot booklet and then cross reference with the namelist. It's just so tedious to check and plus we are just small fries, it doesn't do any advantage to them to track us down.

2) The election department certainly did not do their job to educate the public on how to vote. There were so many voters that came in lost because some are voting for the first time or some didn't have an opportunity to vote before and hence it's their first time as well since their eligible age. The most common question I hear is: how do I vote? Do I put a cross or a tick? Where do I put the mark? etc. I've also seen voters who wanted to walk away with their ballot paper, didn't know where to place the ballot paper after they made their marking etc. So my conclusion is: these people are just not informed on how to vote! I think what the election department can do in future election is to send instructions and FAQs on what to do, TOGETHER with the polling card so people can be informed on what to do. I believe this may also minimize instances of spoilt votes (I'm sure there will be people who drew a smiley face or put a cross on the party they didn't like, thinking that it means to vote them out)

3) CS are not properly trained. I remember in my last election when I went to vote, the CS totally will not speak to me at all because they are suppose to remain silent so as not to affect the voter's decision. However this particular polling station I was at, the CS were talking, telling the voters to proceed to the counter instead of guiding them there, telling the blur voters what to do on their ballot papers etc. On top of it, I was very upset by the CS who are suppose to be reading out the serial numbers and names because being the disadvantaged party who is unable to deploy enough volunteers, I was the ONLY one to man 4 polling areas and being an open space (in a canteen), if they don't read loud enough, I cannot catch them. Despite my repeated request for them to read louder, some became soft again after a while, some changed shift and did not tell the person taking over them to read louder, it was total frustration for me. Plus it didn't help that I raised the request to the ARO to help me remind them and he didn't take any action on it. Very upset with these CS actually.

4) Singaporeans are still under the impression that CS = ruling party. Somehow the ruling party created the image that CS represents them, maybe they've been the ruling party for so long, the citizens no longer believe there's a difference between them and CS are reportedly suppose to be "pro-ruling party" which in a democratic society, this is not suppose to be the case. More education on this is needed.

5) People from the other party sitting beside me are actually quite friendly people. I made small talk with the Indian lady seated beside me, was quite a surprise when she actually complains about the number of FTs in SG as well. So we do share the same woes despite being on opposite sides. So I would like to believe that being Singaporeans still comes first before the partisan divide.

6) The party I volunteered for truly have candidates that really cared. I felt so assured that I see the candidate in charge of the area doing his rounds at some point in my shift and he even came by the polling centre twice. He told me that he had brought our dinner and left our dinner on the bench outside because no food was allowed in the polling area. Twice he came by, twice he thanked me helping out. So you can see, it doesn't take much to buy my heart as long as you are sincere about it. (Postscript: Thus I was disappointed they didn't win. I felt that they truly deserved a shot at it. Will have to wait another 5 years.)

What the organizing party could have better improved:
1) The voters' namelist
My number 1 grouse has to be this! Whoever did the list did not sort it according to serial number and it was hard to find people based on their names especially when some CS have poor diction, the only reliable source was the serial number. Thus everytime I went through the list to strike people off I got really frustrated.

2) Briefing on duties
I knew they were short on time but the least they could do is to do a mass briefing the day before, so we won't be so lost. The only instructions I got came in the email which by the time I got it, leaves little time to clarify any doubts on our duties.

3) Request for volunteers early
They should have anticipated the number of polling centres and start fielding volunteers for polling agent early, never mind about their commitment. I'm sure if you are able to recruit at least 100-200 pax, in their database early, they can deploy these people instead of relying on last minute recruitment. I only got the request to help out less than a week ago. This resulted in a situation where they don't have enough volunteers to go around the polling station and I became one of the unfortunate ones to have to man 4 polling areas on my own, which disadvantages me as there are times where 4 people will shout out the number at the same time and I can only catch at most 2 of them and missing out on the rest. The other party was able to place a polling agent at each area. I guess the minimum should have been at least 2 polling agents if there's 4 areas to be manned. One of the polling agent from the other party expressed sympathy when she found out I had to man all the areas on my own.

Well so that's my experience of being a polling agent for GE2011.