It is about time Samoa adopts postal voting to allow for Samoans who would be overseas on work or medical grounds to cast their vote.

The Commission of Inquiry into electoral matters has recommended that it continue with the system that dictates that for any Samoan to cast a vote should be present in Samoa. This in a way deprives a Samoan of their right to vote.

The postal ballots are not for Samoan diaspora but Samoans from Samoa who would not be able to make it to the voting centres on election day.

A registered voter should be able to apply for postal voting if he or she is living outside of Samoa or will be outside of Samoa on polling day, is unable to travel to a polling station due to sickness, religious beliefs, or work commitments, is under pretrial detention or sentence of imprisonment.

This includes all the workers in the seasonal worker schemes in Australia and New Zealand, this includes anybody who is overseas even if they are going for business or leisure. If they are going to be admitted to the hospital because they have booked into surgery or if they are a tourism industry worker or in essential services, then they could apply for a postal ballot.

Under the current Electoral Act, Section 61 states: (1) A person qualifies to pre-poll if the person: (a) travels outside Samoa during the designated period under section 60 (2); (b) is 65 years old or above; (c) is a person living with disabilities;

(2) A person who qualifies under this section must apply to the Commissioner after the day of closure of rolls ending Friday at 4.00pm on the week before the period designated under section 60(2) for approval to pre-poll.

(3) Upon receipt of an application the Commissioner must determine whether a person qualifies under this section to pre-poll.

This provision of the law only allows certain parties to be able to vote and not everyone who is Samoan and away on work would be able to vote.

A serious consideration is needed from the Government to ensure that the right to vote is protected. Under the law voting is compulsory as well and provisions should be made to ensure that a conducive environment is provided that the least amount of people violate this.

By the end of this year almost 10,000 people could be engaged in seasonal work in Australia and New Zealand. This is not including people who would be contracted to other forms of employment in other countries who could be away just for work.

This constitutes for a large number of voters and these voters could ultimately hold the power to decide on the course of the results.

Postal ballots or postal voting is a tried and tested method which most nations in the world use to ensure that everyone registered to vote gets a chance to cast their vote.

If postal ballots are factored in, the only hard work that would be required of electoral staff is to conduct voter registration overseas. This can be done through the various embassies and even by sending teams from Samoa to conduct this exercise.

Most Pacific nations use postal voting and to study this method would only take a trip to a neighbouring nation.

At the end of the day this will ensure that all Samoans' right to vote is protected and all means to allow them to vote is considered.

Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors and typically returned by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.

In an election, postal votes may be available on demand or limited to individuals meeting certain criteria, such as a proven inability to travel to a designated polling place. Most electors are required to apply for a postal vote, although some may receive one by default.

In some elections postal voting is the only voting method allowed and is referred to as all-postal voting. With the exception of those elections, postal votes constitute a form of early voting and may be considered an absentee ballot.

Typically, postal votes must be mailed back before the scheduled election day. However, in some jurisdictions return methods may allow for dropping off the ballot in person via secure drop boxes or at voting centers. Postal votes may be processed by hand or scanned and counted electronically.

Electoral laws typically stipulate a series of checks to protect against voter fraud and allow for the integrity and secrecy of the submitted ballot to be maintained.

Known instances of fraud are very rare. Coordinated, large-scale fraud by postal voting is likely hard to pull off undetected because of the large number of interested parties such as officials, political operators, and journalists as well as a large number of scholars and analysts who are capable of detecting statistical outliers in vote totals signifying large-scale fraud. Officials can confirm instances of fraud by checking signatures and conducting basic detective work.