PH mail-in balloting? Lawmakers not so keen

MAIL-IN BALLOTING Some of the hundreds of thousands of early mail-in ballots are processed for scanning by election workers at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, in this Oct. 16 photo. —REUTERS

The idea of mail-in balloting, as proposed by the chairperson of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, drew skepticism among her fellow lawmakers, who warned that the system, if carried out in the Philippines, could be prone to electoral fraud.

Sen. Imee Marcos, who heads the committee, filed on Oct. 5 a bill providing for postal voting among senior citizens, pregnant women, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples. She cited the risks of in-person voting, especially among vulnerable sectors, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo filed a similar measure a month earlier, House Bill No. 7572, and in the wake of the recent US general elections conducted in large part by mail-in balloting, Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) pushed for the same system in the 2022 national elections.

But Senate President Vicente Sotto III told reporters, “I’m not in favor. It’s the easiest system of voting to cheat.”

He said in a Viber message, “Who will receive [the ballots]? [Will it be] nationwide? Where will it be mailed, the post office? When will the count take place? Who will do the counting? What if results leak whether true or fake?”“Any of those procedures can be cheated!” Sotto said.

‘Serious consequences’

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon expressed similar reservations, arguing that the Philippine electoral system could not guarantee that mail-in voting would accurately reflect the will of the electorate.“I am not so keen nor convinced that our system can adapt to a mail-in voting system,” he said in a Zoom interview.

“We do not have the infrastructure that is needed to assure our people that voting by mail will reflect the intent of our people,” Drilon said.

He noted that in-person voting in precincts was already beset with problems, including rampant vote buying and intimidation.

“You can imagine the kind of complaints we will get in a vote by mail system. It will be so difficult to monitor,” Drilon said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva warned that mail-in voting may “come with serious consequences such as ballot tampering and other kinds of fraud.”

“There should be enough safeguards to prevent electoral fraud,” he said.

Philippine elections have been generally marred by accusations of fraud—an experience dating back to the regime of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos when election violence, intimidation and cheating, on the very watch of the Comelec, was widely reported at the time.

Villanueva said, however, that he saw no problem in replicating successful election practices such as mail-in voting.

Not PhilPost

Agusan del Norte Rep. Lawrence Fortun said on Monday that “voting by mail is worth considering in the light of the serious risks of the coronavirus.”

“If efficiently implemented and effective measures are in place to ensure its integrity, this will decongest election precincts and keep voters safe from the coronavirus,” he said in a statement.

Fortun said “voting by mail would be best for senior citizens, absentee voting, and for voters on remote islands, coastal areas, and hardly accessible highlands.”

But the lawmaker said the state-owned Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) should not be involved in the mail-in voting. He said the current state of PhilPost and postal service nationwide “does not inspire confidence.”

“It is also an institution too vulnerable to political influence at the national and local levels,” Fortun said.

He noted that “we have seen in recent years a considerable decline in the services of PhilPost as less and less people are utilizing its services owing to the emergence of new information and communication technologies.”

“Even if you ask the people, they trust private courier services more,” Fortun said.

No to Smartmatic

Meanwhile, 115 organizations and individuals issued a statement supporting President Duterte’s call on the Comelec to stop using the voting machines of Smartmatic International for the 2022 elections.

“We call on Comelec to stop using the current non-transparent automated election system, cancel and terminate any contract it may still have with its foreign provider, Smartmatic,” the statement read.

“Through the years, there have been many problems with the system that far outweighed the benefits and eroded the people’s trust in the automated electoral process, casting doubts on the results of each election,” it added.

Venezuela-based Smartmatic has been the technology provider since the Philippines shifted to automated elections in 2010.

The signatories include poll watchdogs Kontra Daya and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), Manila Bishop Broderick Pabillo, National Council of Churches in the Philippines secretary general Bishop Reuel Marigza, former senator Joey Lina and former Bayan Muna partylist representative Neri Colmenares.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said earlier the Comelec would use Smartmatic’s vote-counting machines in 2022.—WITH REPORTS FROM NESTOR CORRALES AND DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN INQ