findprecinct.com gets Comelec nod

Starting next week, Filipino voters in major cities of the country may be able to find out online where they should vote on May 14.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has given a thumbs-up to findprecinct.com , a website that contains a complete list of the people eligible to vote plus the precincts where they are registered.

Philip Ella Juico, head of MIC Holdings, the company behind the website, said Comelec chairman Alfredo Benipayo has given the project the green light after some testing.

Through findprecinct.com, voters can access the Comelec’s computerized voters’ list and find the precinct where their names are listed.

Ordinarily, voters only get to know where they should cast their votes on election day itself, thus creating confusion and sometimes preventing some from voting.

Now, all a voter has to do now is key in his name and date of birth and the website will tell him or her the precinct number and location, complete with a map, where he or she should vote.

findprecinct.com will be using the digitized maps of mapcentral.ph , an established mapping site that covers almost the entire country.

Juico explained that because of the lack of time, findprecint.com will be serving only the entire Metro Manila and 21 key cities in the country.

"Our objective here is to help lessen the confusion and the disenfranchisement that usually accompanies every election," he said.

Juico also pointed out that people with no Internet connections will still be able to use findprecinct.com through the services of telecommunications companies such as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), BayanTel, Globe Telecom and Smart Communications.

"We are pursuing tie-ups with these companies to set up booths with computers in strategic locations of the country," he said.

Aside from easing the plight of voters, findprecinct.com, according to Juico, will be helping the Comelec weed out from its voters’ list those who have registered more than once.

"Through the Internet, we may be able to catch those so-called flying voters," he said.

The findprecinct.com project will be formally launched on April 25 at Club Filipino in San Juan. – Junep Ocampo