Comelec OKs 'non-binding' Internet voting in Singapore

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: March 09, 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) gave its nod to a "non-binding" Internet voting project in Singapore, a copy of a new resolution released Friday showed.

Comelec will spend P23.5 million for the pilot test, according to Comelec Resolution 7835 approved on Tuesday, although it could simply be a “mock” voting.

“We’re still working out the scope. It could simply be a mock voting,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a text message from Singapore.

Jimenez explained that a "non-binding election means the results won't decide who wins or loses. The results will simply show how voters voted."

Earlier reports said the pilot-test of the Internet voting system will not be done on May 14 but sometime in April.

Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento earlier said that the project will be used to vote on issues affecting overseas Filipino workers.

The poll body has been citing the Overseas Absentee Voting Law as basis for testing an Internet voting system in the coming mid-term elections.

But the project was met with strong opposition, especially from Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments.

He opposed the implementation of the Internet voting project, arguing the law merely provided that the Comelec would "study" and not "implement" the option of allowing OFWs to cast their ballots via the Internet.

However, Comelec officials insisted that the law supported the implementation of Internet voting.