FEELING hopeful, first-time voters Wong Yee Tian, Wong Jia Hong and Wong Yee Hwan arrived early to cast their votes at the polling station at SMK Mutiara Impian.
Yee Hwan, 20, said she was very excited to vote for the first time.
“My brother Jia Hong, 19, and sister Yee Tian, 22, arrived at about 8am this morning and there was already a long queue.
“We are all excited to vote for a better Malaysia.
“We are waiting for our parents who are still waiting for their turns to vote,” she said when met this morning.
Bukit Tambun assemblyman Goh Choon Aik, who also voted at the SMK Mutiara Impian polling station, said he was feeling happy to see the youths and first-time voters coming out in numbers to cast their votes.
“We can see that many voters below 25 years old are coming out to vote and they came early.
“This is a good sign and it shows that they care for our country’s future,” Goh said.
Goh voted at 9.36am.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who is contesting the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat, checked out the SMK Mutiara Impian polling station at 9.20am.
Chow also visited the SJKC Kampung Valdor, SJKC Chong Kuang, SK Taman Merak, and SJKC True Light polling centres.
Bukit Tengah assemblyman Gooi Hsiao-Leung accompanied Chow during his visit to the SJKC True Light polling centre at noon.
Gooi said the queues were quite long at the many polling centres he visited.
“However, it was quite hard for us to get the exact number of voter turnout.
“Generally, we could see many young voters coming out to cast their votes and this is a positive sign.
“We hope that more will turn up to vote,” he said.
Chow later continued to visit other polling stations at schools, such as SJKC Peng Bin, SJKC Chung Hwa 3, SJKT Perai, SMK Taman Inderawasih, SMK Prai, SK Juru, SMK Permai Indah and SMK Batu Kawan.
At SJKT Perai, Deputy Chief Minister ll Prof Dr P. Ramasamy was there to join Chow and Goh for the visit.
Police personnel as well as polling station returning officers and clerks were courteous to Chow when he arrived to take a look at how smoothly the voting process went.
They were also very helpful to those voters who came in wheelchairs or walked with the aid of a walking stick.
Pregnant women were also given priority to cast their votes.
