Voting via Internet
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to allow overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to cast their ballots online in next year’s polls.
As expected, the “good news” drew cheers from the more than one million overseas absentee voters and their relatives in the Philippines.
Voting via online is seen to reduce Comelec expenses and encourage more migrant workers to register and vote, according to poll officials.
“It will serve as the key in lowering our expenses. If you recall, we have to transport voting machines, ballots and other election paraphernalia,” said Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco.
Since the poll body announced its intention to conduct voting via Internet, Laudiangco said that more OFWs have registered as voters.
He said that Comelec hopes internet voting would not only increase voter registrants but also result in a higher turnout of voters.
During the May 2022 national and local elections, only 600,000 out of the 1.6 million registered voters overseas cast their ballots.
Reports said that many voters were not able to exercise their right of suffrage because the embassies and consulates were far from their place.
The country’s embassies and consulates serve as voting precincts abroad.
In the view of many, including the ordinary citizens across the country, allowing voting online is a move in the right direction.
