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| Comelec just extended the enrolment deadline to Saturday, May 10 |
With just five days to go before online voting for Filipinos overseas is set to end, the Commission on Elections has issued a reprieve to all those who have yet to enroll for the process.
The enrollment period which was set to end today, May 7, has been moved to May 10, allowing registered overseas voters another three days to enroll their credentials prior to being sent a ballot for the election.
Once enrolled, they can vote until 7pm on May 12, when polling stations across the country will close following a day-long vote. Alternatively, they can proceed immediately to voting after online enrolment.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
In an announcement posted online by the Comelec yesterday, the extension of the enrolment period was mentioned, but no reason was given.
But many overseas Filipino voters who have mostly grumbled over the tedious and unclear process that allowed them to vote online for the first time, said this must be because of the dismal turnout in the ongoing overseas election.
Most of those who have voted so far complained why they had to enroll before being allowed to vote, when they had already gone through the process of registration, and are on the certified list of overseas voters.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Not a few also lamented that it took them awhile to get their identity document and physical presence at the site just so they could get past the enrolment stage.
Then when they got past through this, they were given only a limited time to vote, unlike in manual voting when they could take as long as they wanted to fill in their ballots.
Equally, if not more prevalent, was the notion that the receipt for the ballot they had just cast bore names of candidates that they did not vote for. Many of the voters showed screenshots of a jumble of names under the heading: “Your Ballot ID”.
Today for the first time, Comelec said this was “fake news”.
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| Comelec warns voters who claim that their ballot was tampered with are spreading 'fake news" |
Comelec said in a Facebook post, “Dapat po nating malaman na pagkatapos bumoto ng Registered Overseas Voter, agad na ENCRYPTED na ng OVCS ang balota para sa security ng inyong boto.” (We should all realize that after a registered overseas voter has voted, the ballot is immediately encrypted by the OVCS for security?.
The jumble of letters that show up as “ballot ID” is nothing more than “plaintext hash” that contains the ballot style and image, as well as the names of all the candidates chosen by the voter, said Comelec.
It warned that spreading false and alarming information is an election offence under Sec 261(z) (11) of the Omnibus Election Code.
Ultimately, whether Comelec succeeds in getting the more than 1.5 million Filipinos registered to vote abroad to take part in this landmark exercise will depend largely not just on its credibility, but also on its ability to come up with a system that’s easy and trustworthy.
