SINGAPORE: Singaporeans placed on the non-voter list for future elections will be individually informed to verify their status and restore their names to the Registers of Electors.

They will be informed via mail and through the Singpass in-app message service Notify, Education Minister and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing said in a written parliamentary reply on Monday (Sep 18).

Member of Parliament Ng Ling Ling (People’s Action Party - Ang Mo Kio) had asked if the Elections Department (ELD) would consider informing voters earlier if their names have been expunged from the registers, to confirm whether they had actually voted at the previous election and to apply for reinstatement as necessary.

She also asked if ELD would consider conducting random audit checks to ensure that the names in the registers are correctly updated.

In Singapore, voting in elections is compulsory for all who are eligible. All Singaporeans whose names are in the registers have to cast their ballots on Polling Day: Those who fail to do so will have their names included in a list of non-voters, and removed from the registers after the election. They can apply to have their names restored so that they will be eligible to vote in future elections. 

Mr Chan said the move to individually inform ineligible voters would be on top of the usual public call by ELD to check on one's status when the non-voter list is published for verification.

The vast majority of people did not turn up to vote because they were not in Singapore or were ill on Polling Day, he added.

About 32,000 voters checked and restored their names to the registers from October 2020 to Aug 11, when the Writ of Election for the Presidential Election was issued.

“Similar to previous exercises, there were very few who requested ELD to restore their names due to inaccuracy in the recording of their voting status in GE2020,” Mr Chan said. “As such, ELD did not suspect that there were significant inaccuracies in the recording.”

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