Comelec mulls Internet voting for overseas Filipinos

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: August 29, 2008

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections will study a proposal to allow Filipino seafarers to register using their voice for identification and to vote via the Internet, Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said Friday.

At the signing of the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Comelec, Ferrer said the proposal was made by the Spanish company Scytl.

"This will surely suit our seafarers who are usually at sea," he said.

"But of course we will have to ask Congress to amend the Automation Law to accommodate these changes" if Comelec decides to go with Scytl's proposal, he added.

The Philippines is the world's biggest supplier of seafarers. There are 250,000 Filipino seafarers at sea at any given time.

At the same time, Ferrer announced that the registration for overseas absentee voting will start in December. He said the Comelec targets to register about 600,000 additional overseas absentee voters (OAVs) for the 2010 presidential elections.

There are some 503,896 registered OAVs now -- about 359,296 registered prior to the 2004 elections and another 144,600 for the 2007 polls.

Ferrer said around 100,000 may be deactivated for not voting twice. He said they will stay on the voters' list if they file a petition for activation.

With the deactivated deducted from the current OAV list and the target 600,000 new OAV registrants, the total OAV voting population is expected to reach one million.

Members of the Philippine diplomatic missions and posts around the world will undergo training for OAV registration starting September in time for the actual enlistment in December.

In his opening statement, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said registration is key to more participation.

"In order to ensure greater participation in our electoral process, registration must be made more accessible, swift, and hassle-free," he said.

Seguis said that with the opening of nine additional posts (Macau, Chongqing, Chengdu, Damascus, and Frankfurt this year; and Dublin, Warsaw, Lisbon, and Helsinki in 2009), more Filipinos overseas may register.