10% of varsity students approached register as voters (Updated)

PUTRAJAYA: Less than 10% of students from institutions of higher learning approached by the Election Commission (EC) eventually registered as a voter, said its chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah.
"I visited several universities and met over 30,000 students to talk to them and called out to them to register as a voter.
"However only 2,700 of them eventually registered," he said after officiating the MySPR Semak App at EC's headquarters, here today.
Based on the youth voting registration exercise conducted by the EC at higher learning institutions across the country since February, Mohd Hashim said the number of newly registered voters aged between 21 and 39 years remained low.
"The reasons that they gave included 'not knowing how to register', 'do not want to vote', and 'do not want to get involved in politics'.
"In the end, they relate voting to politics, thinking that their vote does not carry any weight," he said.
Despite the setback, Mohd Hashim stressed that the commission will continue to ensure more registrations before the 14th General Election.
By explaining the importance of voting and dispelling negative rumours against the EC, Mohd Hashim pledged to continue engaging youth as they remain the group with the least registered voters in all states.
Meanwhile, the MySPR Semak app will enable voters to check their registration status and obtain election results.
Mohd Hashim said the MySPR Semak app will also include information such as voters' voting centres and "live" updates for elections.
The app, he said will help minimise dependency on unofficial sources for polling outcomes that could cause confusion.
"During election time, the people will often get untrue and inaccurate information on polling results.
"The application will enable voters to access it themselves and access official results accurately," he said.
The app, Mohd Hashim hopes, will help negate the public perception that the EC is biased.
"The app was developed following public feedback of varied results during the last general election," he added.
MySPR Semak is currently available on the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store.