9 things that can get you in trouble on polling day — including your Instagram story

Negeri Sembilan votes on 1 August. Johor just did, on 11 July — and by the time the campaign there was over, the Election Commission had logged 588 complaints and police had opened 18 investigation papers.

Most of those weren't masterminds rigging ballot boxes. They were ordinary people doing ordinary things — putting up a poster in the wrong spot, posting something they shouldn't have, hanging around where they shouldn't hang around.

Here's the thing about the Election Offences Act 1954: it was written seventy years ago, and it is oddly specific. It has opinions about your umbrella. It has opinions about your water bottle. And it definitely has opinions about that photo you were about to post.

Let's go through them.

1. Photographing your ballot paper

This is the big one now, because everyone has a phone and everyone wants the content.

Malaysian voting is secret by design. Section 5 of the Act builds an entire apparatus around it — polling officers, agents and candidates literally swear an oath of secrecy before the poll, and breaching section 5 carries up to a year's jail or a RM3,000 fine.

But here's the honest legal position, and we'd rather tell you straight than pretend it's tidier than it is: section 5 is aimed squarely at officials and agents — the people running the poll. Whether an ordinary voter photographing their own ballot falls neatly within it has never been definitively settled by a Malaysian court, as far as we can find.

What's clear is that the authorities treat it as an offence. The EC has publicly warned voters — including postal voters — not to photograph ballot papers or share them on social media, and said action can be taken. In 2023, then-caretaker Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor showed his marked ballot to photographers at a polling centre in Sik and was widely reported to have potentially breached the Act.

Practical advice: the picture is not worth the argument. Take your selfie outside, 50 metres away, with your inked finger. That's the shot anyway.

2. Wearing your party's colours to vote

Section 26(1)(g) is where it gets almost comically detailed. Within 50 metres of a polling station and inside it, you can't wear, hold or carry any clothing, head covering, ornament, rosette, water bottle or umbrella bearing a candidate's name or a party's name, emblem or symbol.

Yes, water bottle. Yes, umbrella. Someone in 1954 clearly had a bad experience.

So the party T-shirt, the flag, the bunting you were going to drape over yourself — leave them in the car. Plain clothes on polling day. Penalty: up to RM5,000, up to a year, or both.

3. Lepak-ing outside the polling station

Section 26(1)(e)(iv): within 50 metres of a polling station, you can't wait or loiter for any reason other than going in to cast your vote.

This catches a lot of well-meaning people. You bring your parents, you vote first, you wait outside for them to finish — technically an offence. Same if you're meeting friends after, or standing around chatting with the neighbour you bumped into.

Vote, then move along. Regroup with your family beyond the 50-metre line. Penalty: up to RM5,000, up to a year, or both.

4. Trying to convince anyone of anything, anywhere near the polling station

Also under section 26(1)(e): within that 50-metre zone, you cannot solicit, persuade or attempt to persuade anyone to vote for a candidate, vote against one, or not vote at all.

Campaigning has an end time and it's before this. In Negeri Sembilan, the EC fixed the campaign period to end at 11.59pm on 31 July — after that, polling day is meant to be quiet.

This means no last-minute pitches in the queue, no "eh, don't vote for that fella" to the uncle beside you, no handing out anything. Take your mother to vote by all means. Just don't do a closing argument in the car park.

5. Taking the ballot paper out of the polling station

Now we're in the more serious tier. Section 3(1)(h) makes it an offence to carry a ballot paper outside the polling station. Section 3(1)(g) covers putting anything other than your authorised ballot paper into a ballot box.

This one is usually accidental — you're flustered, you fold it into your bag, you walk out. Check yourself before you leave.

The penalty is a proper step up: up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to RM5,000, or both — plus disqualification from voting for five years. That last part is the sting. You can lose an election's worth of your own voice over a piece of paper you didn't mean to keep.

6. Voting as someone else, or voting twice

Section 3 also deals with personation — applying for a ballot paper in someone else's name, living, dead or entirely fictional, or coming back for a second ballot in your own name after you've already voted.

Personation and related corrupt practices carry up to two years' imprisonment and a fine between RM1,000 and RM5,000.

Don't do your grandmother a favour by voting on her behalf. It's not a favour, it's a criminal offence.

7. Treating — buying votes with food, drink or anything else

"Treating" is one of those old-fashioned words that's still very much alive. It covers giving food, drink, money, entertainment or any other inducement to get someone to vote a particular way, or to reward them for having done so.

The nasi bungkus at a ceramah, in the ordinary run of political events, is not automatically illegal — the offence turns on whether it's given to induce or reward a vote. But the line is genuinely blurry, and it's a corrupt practice with real consequences: up to two years and a fine of RM1,000 to RM5,000. During the Johor campaign, three complaints went to the MACC.

If you're a candidate or working for one, get proper advice. If you're a voter, be aware that accepting an inducement can put you on the wrong side of this too.

8. Posting things online — and the AI problem nobody has solved yet

This is where the seventy-year-old law shows its age badly.

The Act does cover some speech: section 4A makes it an offence to say or do anything intended to stir ill-will or hostility between races or classes in order to sway voters — punishable by up to five years' jail or a fine of up to RM10,000, one of the heaviest penalties in the Act. Beyond that, election-related posts routinely get investigated under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and the Penal Code rather than the Election Offences Act.

What the Act does not have is a proper answer for AI. Days before Johor voted, an AI-generated poster of a prominent politician circulated online carrying words she says she never said. There was no label, no fast takedown route, and no offence that squarely fitted. A bipartisan parliamentary group has since called for the Act to be amended before GE16 to include takedown powers over campaign material on social media, and the National AI Office has been consulting on a broader AI Governance Bill — but as of today, none of that is law.

So the practical position for an ordinary voter: sharing unverified claims or manipulated media during a campaign can land you in a police investigation under other laws even if the Election Offences Act has nothing to say about it. Police warned about exactly this during the Johor campaign. Verify before you share.

9. If you're a boss — you must let your staff go and vote

Section 25 is one of the few provisions in this Act that protects you rather than threatens you.

Every employer must give every employee who is a registered voter a reasonable period on polling day to go and vote. No deducting their pay for it. No penalising them for being away. The EC issued exactly this reminder to Johor employers this month, noting that conviction carries up to RM5,000, up to a year's jail, or both.

"Reasonable period" isn't defined in hours — it depends on how far the polling station is and how long the queue realistically takes. What's clear is that forcing staff to take annual leave, or docking their pay, isn't compliance.

If your employer refuses, you can raise it with the EC or lodge a police report.

What to actually do on polling day

• Wear plain clothes. Nothing with a party name, logo or colour scheme.
• Leave party flags, stickers, and yes, branded umbrellas at home.
• Phone stays in your pocket inside the polling station.
• Vote, check you're not carrying anything you shouldn't be, and leave.
• Meet your family beyond 50 metres.
• No political talk in or near the station.
• Take your selfie outside, well away, with the inked finger.

If you get into trouble anyway

For a minor section 26 matter, you'll typically be dealt with by police at the scene or asked to give a statement later. Cooperate, don't argue with enforcement officers at a polling station, and get legal advice before giving a detailed statement if the allegation is serious.

For anything in the personation, ballot-tampering or corrupt-practice tier — where five years of your voting rights are on the table — talk to a lawyer immediately. These are not talk-your-way-out-of-it offences. See also: [What to do if you're arrested](/p/pdrm-you-re-under-arrest)