Even SMRT’s E-Voting system breaks down

According to the Straits Times about 4,000 SMRT Corp shareholders had turned up for the SMRT Corp shareholders’ meeting on Thursday (29 September) only to be frustrated by a glitch in the electronic voting system.

The former Editor-in-Chief of TODAY newspaper as well as a shareholder, Mano Sabnani, was the first to highlight the failure of the electronic voting devices. The system seemed to accept only a ‘Yes’ vote. Mr Sabnani demanded an explanation as to why it failed to register a “No” vote on the scoreboard.

The shareholders were at the Star Theatre for an extra-ordinary general meeting (EOGM) to vote on the proposed privatisation of the company. The electronic glitch at the EOGM left many shareholders frustrated, and several left early before the issue got resolved.

As officials tried to fix the glitch, SMRT chairman Koh Yong Guan asked the shareholders to be patient. A TODAY report said that voting resumed after a near 30-minute delay, and that the results saw 98.84 percent of SMRT’s minority shareholders approving the sale of SMRT assets to the Land Transport Authority. 84.83 percent also approved the takeover bid by Temasek Holdings. Temasek abstained from voting.