Comelec keen on pushing mall-based voting

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista at the Comelec office in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ARNOLD ALMACEN

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is keen on pushing for elections to be held in malls in 2016 despite criticisms from other sectors.

Comelec Chair Andres Bautista, in a press briefing, said they would continue to look into the practical and legal aspects of mall-based voting, believing it would enhance the voting experience.

“I think it’s the practical way of doing things,” Bautista said.

The Comelec chief’s statement came following criticisms made by election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who said that while the poll body’s plan to allow voting in malls would be a “very noble project,” the poll body should look into some legal loopholes to make the planned undertaking more effective.

Macalintal also said the idea might be impractical if the 2016 polls were automated because the ballots would be precinct specific.

But according to Bautista, Batas Pambansa Bilang 881 or the Omnibus Election Code, which was passed during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., still carries a lot of outmoded ways of conducting the elections in the country.

“A lot of outmoded ways are still in that law. Many changes have occurred in our society, technological and otherwise, and I think we have to use these changes for the benefit of society,” Bautista said.

“What we are trying to do is enhance voting experience and make it easier for the people to exercise their right of suffrage,” he added, saying there were many surveys showing that a lot people favored voting in malls.

“This is the practical way of doing things. But then again, we live in a democracy. We accept criticisms. As we always do, we will be consulting with our stakeholders before we make a final decision on this matter,” Bautista said.

At the launch of the Comelec’s satellite registration services in Robinsons Place Manila last July 11, Robinson Land Corp. (RLC) president Frederick Go said its malls nationwide would be ready to host the Comelec and serve as venues for voting in 2016.

Bautista said their “preliminary study” of the endeavour showed that they could actually move the precincts of barangays adjacent to the malls.

Bautista listed the many advantages of setting up poll sites in malls.

He said mall amenities would improve the experience of voters. The sites will also help reduce the number of voters per precinct and decongest public schools.

He said the idea of holding elections inside the malls would be part of the poll agency’s efforts to make voting more convenient for the public.

“There are a lot of ills of elections that we can mitigate if we allow voting inside malls, like vote-buying, violence, the issue of impatient voters. You know, people tend to become irritable and hot-tempered if they’re in crowded areas. At least in malls, even if there are many people and long queues, there is the air-conditioning system to keep them cool,” he said.

He said the voting experience in a mall setting would ensure that people would be happier while they cast their votes so it should also lead to greater voter turnout.

“Malls are well-lighted, restaurants are accessible so you can eat while waiting for your turn to vote. It will also decongest voters in the schools that are being used as polling precincts. It will enhance security and there will be no issue of brownouts that may affect transmission of votes since malls have generator sets,” he added.

The Comelec chief expressed his hope of finalizing the mall-voting plan by November.

The RLC was the first to offer its malls as venues for voting in 2016.

The poll body said negotiations have been ongoing with other malls for the same initiative.

“We hope that the example of Robinsons will be emulated by other similar organizations. I just don’t want the residents of Metro Manila to benefit from this. It’s a great thing that Robinsons has 42 malls nationwide, we want everybody in the country as much as possible, if there is such an opportunity, [to be] be given the convenience in voting,” he said in a previous press briefing.

“It’s really a win-win as far as Comelec is concerned and we really we need forward-looking businessmen to be able to realize that this is good for the country, and therefore, eventually, good for business,” he said.

Bautista added that they were further encouraged to conduct mall voting after the positive response of the people in their mall-based satellite registrations.

Proof of this, he said, was the improved performance of the satellite registration last weekend compared to the previous one.

“In our weekend mall registration campaign, the second weekend exceeded the performance of the first weekend,” said Bautista.

Initial reports show that a total of 5,400 people registered last Saturday and Sunday in 10 different malls.

This is higher compared to only a total of 5,229 during the previous weekend in nine malls.