Melaka polls: Elderly couple up at 5am to cast votes

MASJID TANAH: An elderly couple who woke up about 5am to prepare for polling day were among the first voters to arrive at SK Jeram here this morning.

Liew Chee Phin, 66, and his wife, Tan Siw Choo, 62, from Taman Seri Aman reached the polling centre at 7.20am, well before it opened, to fulfil their voting responsibilities in the Melaka election.

Liew said they had set off after breakfast, with the polling centre about 2km from their home.

The father of three said he wanted to complete the voting process early as he had to open his shop in Masjid Tanah about 9am.

He said arriving early had become a habit whenever elections were held.

"Whenever there is an election, I always come early. I thought I would be able to have my identity card checked earlier this time too.

"Even so, I will wait because I want to fulfil my responsibility as a voter," he said.

For Rohana Yasin, 46, arriving early was also a matter of managing her time before reporting for work in Batu Berendam.

She said she did not want the distance to her workplace to prevent her from exercising her right to vote.

"That is why I came early to cast my vote.

"I have to reach work by 9.45am at the latest, so I need to hurry because the journey to my workplace is quite far.

"I thought I would be allowed to vote earlier, but it turned out that I had to wait until 8am," she said.

Rohana said she hoped to complete the voting process as quickly as possible to reach work on time.