Comelec allows seamen to vote at nearest port

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has allowed Filipino sailors who are registered overseas voters to cast their votes at the nearest port in any part of the world.

Safeguards have been put in place to prevent "sailing voters" from becoming "flying voters," according to the poll body.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said yesterday that the commission is finalizing guidelines to enable the more than 500,000 registered overseas voters in various countries to cast their ballots.

Among the concerns of the Comelec is how Filipino sailors can vote when they are in the open seas during the election period for overseas voters.

In past elections, seafarers could only vote in certain areas or designated ports of call.

However, Jimenez said under the new procedures for the 2007 elections, seamen will be allowed to cast their vote at the nearest port, so long as there are Philippine embassies or consular offices in these areas.

He said it would be easier for seamen to vote at the nearest port because one of the issues raised in the last election was that seamen were not sure which port they would be at during the election period.

"We have a list of overseas voters that will be sent to embassies so that as soon as a seafarer votes in certain location all embassies and consulates will be informed so that the name will be crossed out," he told reporters during yesterday’s weekly Kapihan sa Sulu Hotel forum in Quezon City.

Jimenez also said the Comelec is considering electronic voting through the Internet for absentee voters.

The "Internet is one of the solutions being studied by the committee. It is one of the innovations being considered," he said.

Jimenez added that a committee on overseas voting has not yet finalized the list of mailing stations for overseas voters scattered in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the United States.

He said overseas voters in several countries could now send their ballots to their embassies or consular offices. In the past, this method of voting was allowed by the Philippine embassies or consular offices in only four countries.