KUALA LUMPUR : The polling centre at SK Taman Seri Gombak 2 is seeing a lesser voter turnout than the 15th General Election (GE15).
Checks by the New Straits Times at 1pm today revealed very few people queuing up at the centre at that time. Those who were at the centre were able to cast their ballots in just under 10 minutes.
Voter Isfayati Ismail, 49, said she was able to vote in mere minutes, unlike the time she had to line up for hours when voting in GE15 last year.
She said in both elections, she came to vote at around the same time at noon.
"During GE15, the queue was long. I had to queue from outside the school. Even when I was inside, the people had to fight for seats.
"It took me hours till I was able to cast my vote.
"I vote just to fulfill my duty and choose what's best for the community," she said, adding she has never missed voting since she turned 21.
Jamilah Ali, 63, also recalled the long lines in GE15. She said her family had to wait from 8am till about noon to cast their votes last year.
Today, she took less than 10 minutes to vote in the state election.
Jamilah, who was seen with her two children and granddaughter, said the process this time was quick and smooth.
She attributed the 20-minute downpour for the low voter turnout today. She predicts that more voters will come to the polling centre when the rain stops.
An Election Commission officer, who had been on duty during GE15 and today said there was barely any queue ever since the polling centre opened at 8am.
He said the voters who came only had to queue for a short while to get to the polling booths.
"During GE15, people had to queue till outside of the school and it was very crowded.
"Today, even at 8am, the queue was not that long as compared to November last year. People were able to just come in and in less than 10 minutes, they would be able to leave.
"Maybe they are tired with all the politics," he said.
The Gombak Setia constituency is one of 56 state assembly seats in Selangor.
The constituency is seeing a three-cornered fight between Perikatan Nasional candidate Hilman Idham, Barisan Nasional's Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, who is also the Umno Selangor liaison chief and independent candidate Mohamed Salim Mohamed Ali.