Digital cards with voters’ data probed

ROSALES, Pangasinan—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is investigating the alleged distribution of digital cards bearing voters’ names and personal information that recipients can reportedly exchange for cash when presented to a political group.

The same information, including the voters’ photographs, was printed on strips of paper issued to voters in a Pangasinan town, which allegedly served as claim stubs for campaign bribes.

Joel Gines, Pangasinan election supervisor, said on Thursday that the Comelec would try to find out if the voters’ information came from the poll body.

Only the Comelec’s information technology (IT) department could print the voters’ list, complete with photographs, he said.

“I’m not saying [the poll body’s IT department] did it. Remember, the Comelec website was hacked. What I am saying is that the Comelec’s field offices are not capable of printing that kind of list,” Gines said.

The poll body was victimized recently by hackers who downloaded voters’ information from its website then uploaded the same on the Internet.

Reelectionist Provincial Board Member Ranjit Shahani disclosed on Tuesday the existence of the cards, which were distributed to voters in the towns of Villasis, Rosales, Bautista, Calasiao and Lingayen and Urdaneta City.

He said voters were told the cards had a cash equivalent of P400 to P1,000.

“A card is read by a computer and the photo of the voter appears on a computer screen, which is [questionable] because only the Comelec should have that information,” Shahani said.

He said a gubernatorial candidate was behind the distribution of the cards.

The cards had quick response codes which, a cybersecurity expert said, were used to store transaction codes or other information in number form for tracking purposes.

Tzar Umang, a cybersecurity expert, said the data, which included voters’ information such as photographs, biometrics and other personal data, could have come from the hacked Comelec data now accessible on the Internet.

Voters’ data could not be easily accessed from the Comelec website, Umang said, adding that only the voter could pull out his/her personal information from the site.

An online voters’ list on the Comelec website only gives the voter’s name, address and sex.

An election officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said any candidate could request for a voters’ list but it would not include things like voters’ photos. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon