A total of 101 overseas Singaporean voters will be unable to vote in this 2020 General Election as a result of a glitch in the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) system for processing applications, the agency said on July 4.

The glitch meant that multiple applications by overseas Singaporeans to have a local contact address registered for voting were not processed, ultimately resulting in their names being left out of the Registers of Electors.

101 Singaporeans did not submit claims after the Registers opened for inspection

Subsequently, when the Registers was opened for Singaporeans to check if their names were listed, the 101 overseas Singaporeans who were affected did not submit any claims to the ELD to be included in the Registers, resulting in their inability to vote in the 2020 General Election.

The glitch itself was uncovered after the Elections Department (ELD) informed the ICA on July 1 about the lack of processing for several applications.

The agency has since apologised to the affected Singaporeans and has reached out to them.

How exactly does the application process work?

Overseas Singaporeans will have to first submit a local address to the ELD

For Singaporeans who have changed their NRIC address to an overseas address and wish to vote in an upcoming election, they are required to provide a local contact address via the ELD's website.

This local address allows the ELD to allot the voter an electoral division to vote in.

Once the address is registered, it is electronically transmitted to ICA.

The ICA in turn automatically generates hardcopy letters within its system which are sent by registered mail to the owner of the local address to confirm that he or she agrees to the use of this address by the overseas Singaporean.

The local address owner must then sign and return the acknowledgement portion to ICA, following which, the local address tagged to the overseas Singaporean will be updated in the system, and transmitted to ELD for the purpose of preparing the Registers of Electors.

Overseas Singaporeans can check names included once local address updated

Once the Registers of Electors is prepared, it is open to inspection by Singaporeans, to allow them to check if their names are included.

In the case of overseas Singaporeans, they are able to do so online or at Singapore overseas missions that serve as overseas registration centres.

Earlier this year, the Registers were opened for inspection from March 14 to 27.

Should one's own name not be included, he or she can submit a claim for inclusion.

From March 14 to 27, 168 Singaporeans who checked the Registers submitted claims to be included.

The Registers were then certified on April 15.

Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, no further names can be included in the Registers for the current elections once this has been done.

Glitch: Failure to generate letters

In this case, the glitch resulted in a failure to generate the letters to be sent to the owners of the local addresses.

This resulted in the ELD not receiving the confirmed local addresses from ICA, and hence, did not include the names in the Registers of Electors.

ICA has since stated that it will "improve the robustness of our systems and tighten our processes".

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