KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC) has denied that voters will need to sanitise their hands after dipping their finger in indelible ink on polling day.
A message, claiming that a new EC protocol in the 15th General Election (GE15) requires voters to sanitise their hands before entering the voting centre and again after dipping the finger into the indelible in, was not true.
An EC spokesman confirmed that there was no such thing.
The viral message widely being circulated read: "A new requirement this election. They'll be asking you to sanitise ur hands after you've dipped ur finger in the ink (a KKM requirement).
"Pse remember not to sanitise the ink finger, as the alcohol will dissolve the ink & cause it to smudge even before you vote.
"So bring along a tissue & be careful not to allow the ink to stain urself, clothing & most importantly ur ballot paper. You may ask the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (KTM) for a replacement ballot paper if any stains do occur, it's their prerogative to give or not."
The spokesman said there were no new requirements to the voting process other than what's stated on the EC website and social media pages.
"There are clear explanations and videos on how the voting process would work on polling day. Please refer to it," he said.
He urged the public to stop circulating or sharing unverified messages, which could bring about confusion to the voters on Nov 19.
"The message that is circulating is fake and don't trust any information from unreliable sources. Refer to the EC website spr.gov.my for the actual voting protocol," he added.
EC is also expected to release a press statement on the fake message later today.