SINGAPORE - Singaporeans young and old, including nursing home residents and a hospital patient who came with his leg in a cast, turned up at 1,264 polling stations on Friday to pick their next president.

By 5pm, three hours before polling closed, 2,302,996 Singaporeans – or about 85 per cent of the total number of eligible electors – had voted, said the Elections Department (ELD).

Polls opened at 8am as Singaporeans cast their ballots for the Republic’s ninth president.

After a shaky start, plagued by issues with the voter registration system and subsequent long queues, lines at polling stations started easing by around 10am.

At Block 307 Jurong East Street 32, there was a queue of about 100 people from 8am to 9am, but by 9.30am, there were just 10 people in the line.

Among those who voted there was a young woman who showed up with a curler in her hair.

A 43-year-old Jurong resident, who wanted to be known only as Mr S, arrived in a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown and with his leg in a cast.

He had a knee fracture, but despite this, he decided to vote, accompanied by his wife, and then returned to the hospital after that.

They were among the diverse groups of voters on Friday who included three Buddhist nuns at the Wisma Geylang Serai polling station.

By noon, the queues had shortened at polling stations around the island. Singaporeans were able to track the queue situation throughout the day.

There were several new features introduced this year to improve the voting process.

Voters could present their digital NRIC and ePoll card via the Singpass app instead of taking the physical poll cards to the polling stations.

A self-inking X-stamp for voters to mark their ballots was also introduced.

First-time voter Aroni Sarkar, who voted at Katong Community Centre, said her voting process went smoothly.

Staff at the polling station verified her NRIC and poll card manually after a lag in the digital system.

The 23-year-old student and her parents arrived at 8.10am and queued for about 30 minutes.

She said: “It was streamlined, focused and smooth.”

However, a housewife, who wanted to be known only as Madam Neo, waited almost an hour before she left the centre with her son and daughter, who are in their 20s.

Madam Neo, who is in her 50s, said: “The machines took very long to scan my NRIC, and there was a long queue because there were only two machines. We haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

Republic of Singapore Air Force regular Ethan Ng, 44, liked the self-inking stamp.

He was the third person in the queue at a pavilion in front of Block 63 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh when he arrived at about 7am.

Retiree Kathirithamby Ramakrishnan, 74, who was first in the queue with his wife and son at Chung Cheng High School (Main) in the Katong area, said he had no problem with the new X-stamp because the ink was still fresh.

Many elderly voters were among the first at the polls on Friday.

Election officials were seen patiently guiding elderly voters through the voting process at the Lorong 5 Toa Payoh polling station.

An election official was heard saying “Auntie, I cannot look”, as he looked away from a voter’s voting slip, while telling her how to fold it into half before dropping it into the ballot box.

An 86-year-old woman, who declined to be named, had stamped a cross against the wrong candidate’s name because of her poor eyesight. She was given a new slip to cast her vote again.

In such instances, election officials will mark a voting slip as cancelled or invalid, before giving the voter a replacement voting slip. 

“They guided me through and were very kind,” she said, adding that she had chosen a candidate who she felt was capable of treating the people very well.

Retiree Leow Sunn, 71, who voted at Block 852 Hougang Central, had a mishap with his physical poll card. He had to use the ePoll card instead because he had accidentally cut off the number on the physical card.

Voting was relatively seamless for 95-year-old Bay Hong Chee, who was ushered into a priority queue.

He cast his vote at Geylang Serai Community Club within two minutes. He was accompanied by his son-in-law, who pushed him in a wheelchair around the voting centre.

He said the height of the voting counter was easy for him to reach, and he could see his ballot paper clearly from his wheelchair. The X-stamp was also easy to use, and required him to only press lightly on the ballot paper to cast his vote.

This year, there were also special polling stations set up at 31 nursing homes to make it more convenient for less mobile seniors to vote.

Madam Lee Dan Lin, 75, who cast her vote at the Society for the Aged Sick in Hougang Avenue 1, said voting on-site was very convenient, compared with going to polling stations.

Madam Lee, who has been at the nursing home for the past five years, said: “(Last time) it was very troublesome. In the home, an ambulance sent us there, and then we had to wait under the hot sun.”

Ms Ruby Shareenah, 37, who works as a babysitter and part-time tutor, was the last to vote at the polling station near Block 63 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh.

Arriving just 10 minutes before polling closed, she said she had lost track of time. “I feel a bit relieved after voting but my heart is still beating fast.”

Once polling closed, ballot boxes were sealed and transported to the 215 counting centres across the island.

• Additional reporting by Mark Cheong, Ng Keng Gene, Yong Li Xuan, Shermaine Ang, Esther Loi and Christine Tan.