Mall voting
THE plan to utilize more shopping malls as voting centers in next year’s elections has given the Commission on Elections (Comelec) a much-needed boost in the eyes of the electorate.
This, after the highly-successful pilot testing of the poll body’s “mall voting” initiative during last year’s non-partisan Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
Records show that the country’s first ever “mall voting” undertaking saw a high turnout of voters in the 11 pilot testing areas.
Right after the BSKE polls, a top Comelec official was quoted as saying “we will conduct it on a broader scale with the help of our partner malls.”
Everybody agrees that there’s really a need to encourage more registered electors, notably members of the country’s vulnerable sectors. to go out and vote on election day.
And one way to encourage the voters to go to the polls is to enhance the convenience and accessibility of voting for the people, including the people with disability and senior citizens.
Without doubt, many quarters support the “mall voting” initiative as it is done “at no cost to the Comelec and to the government.”
Last Thursday, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia disclosed some details of the “mall voting” plan, which will be eventually covered by a resolution of the poll body.
Garcia, a top poll lawyer before he was named to the Comelec, said registered voters living in the vicinity of a shopping mall will likely be allowed to cast their votes there.
In the view of many, utilizing shopping malls and other private private establishments as voting centers is a move in the right direction.
