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Gordon wants 'touch-screen' voting machines for 2010


MANILA, Philippines - A senator on Tuesday pushed for the use of the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines in the 2010 presidential polls which, according to him, will be more user-friendly to people with disabilities. Senator Richard Gordon, author of the amended Automated Elections System (AES) Law, urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure the participation of "differently-abled" people in the 2010 elections by choosing voting machines that are easy to use and by making polling precincts accessible to them. He said the DRE voting machines would enable the deaf and people who have impaired hands to vote. He said DRE or “touch screen voting machines" display the pictures and names of candidates and voters would just press DRE’s screen to vote for their chosen political bets. He said, if possible, the Comelec should also choose voting machines that would be able to read out the names of candidates for blind people. Gordon said one of the objectives of the amended automated elections law was to enable more disabled Filipinos to exercise their right to suffrage. "As early as now, we must ensure that the more than eight million Filipinos with various disabilities can have full and active participation in our country's most vital democratic process," said Gordon in a press statement. The senator issued the call as the Comelec geared up preparations for the full automation of the country’s electoral exercises on May 2010. “As we move to automate the May 2010 elections, we should have persons with disabilities foremost in our mind," said Gordon, former co-chairman of the Congressional Committee on Automated Elections System. "We are working to ensure that the Automated Election System Law is implemented in a way that will give our disabled brethren a greater voice in our elections because their voice truly matters," he added. Apart from voting machines, the senator said the Comelec should ensure that there are adequate access ramps for people on wheel chairs and personnel who can assist people with disabilities. He said village officials may even organize a shuttle service that will ferry the disabled from their homes to polling precincts. He said the Comelec should ensure (people with disabilities) PWDs’ participation in the electoral process since the country is a main sponsor of resolution 56/115 on the "Implementation of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons: Towards a society for all in the 21st Century." He added the Accessibility Law, or Batasang Pambansa No. 844, was passed to increase the mobility and access of a group of disabled persons to public offices. He also cited the Republic Act No.7277, also known as "An Act Providing for the Rehabilitation, Self-Development, and Self-Reliance of Disabled Persons and Their Integration into the mainstream of Society and for Other Purposes," passed in 1995. - Amita O. Legaspi, GMANews.TV
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