3-day local absentee voting starts today

MANILA, Philippines - The three-day local absentee voting for members of the military, police, media, and some government workers will start today.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. yesterday urged qualified voters to go out and exercise their right to vote.

“We are reminding the voters that the local absentee voting will run for three days – April 28, 29 and 30,” Brillantes said.

Brillantes had registered for local absentee voting at the Comelec-National Capital Region office in Intramuros, Manila and he may vote tomorrow.

According to Comelec-Election Contests Adjudication
Department director Betty Pizaña, there were 18,332 registered local absentee voters, including 575 media practitioners.

In previous polls, only government officials and employees like teachers and members of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines who were assigned in places where they were not registered voters were allowed to register for the local absentee voting.

Qualified members of the media were permitted to vote ahead of the regular election day after a group of media practitioners represented by lawyer Romulo  Macalintal petitioned the Comelec to include media in the local absentee voting.

Under Comelec Resolution 9637 promulgated last Feb. 13, local absentee voters for next month’s elections can only vote for 12 senators and party-list representatives. Voting will be done manually from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Brillantes said those who fail to vote during the three-day period can still vote on May 13 in polling precincts where they are registered.

He, however, warned those who will vote more than once will face an election offense punishable with up to six years imprisonment, disqualification from holding public office, and suspension of the right of suffrage.

The resolution states that the head of office, supervisor or commander will determine “the place of voting where the voters will converge to vote.” Members of the media will vote at the Comelec offices where they filed their applications for local absentee voting, Brillantes said.

The Comelec will count the ballots at the end of the voting period on election day.

Meanwhile, a total of 463 policemen, soldiers, teachers, and mediamen in Bacolod City and elsewhere in Negros Occidental are set to participate in the three-day local absentee voting.

There are 1,574,784 registered voters in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.

Election returns

Meanwhile, the Comelec has directed the provincial election supervisors to deliver the election returns (ERs) intended for the poll body and Congress not later than May 16, or three days after the elections.

Under Republic Act 9369, ER pertains to “a document in electronic and printed form directly produced by the counting or voting machine, showing the date of the election, the province, municipality and the precinct in which it is held and the votes in figures for each candidate in a precinct in areas where AES (automated election system) is utilized.”

The law states that the second and third copies of ERs shall be delivered to the Comelec and Congress, respectively.

Copies of ERs are also given to the city or municipal board of canvassers and the citizen’s arm of the Comelec. The provincial board of canvassers, major political parties and national broadcast and print media entities also get copies of the ERs. – With Danny Dangcalan