Low turnout seen for local absentee voting

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is worried that only a few voters may avail of the local absentee voting law in the 2010 polls. In an interview with reporters, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said that local absentee voting was created for civilian government officials and employees and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and Bureau of Corrections who are registered voters and who, on election day, are temporarily assigned to perform election duties in places where they are not registered. However, Sarmiento, who heads the Comelec Committee on Local Absentee Voting, said that so far only 1,000 have registered as absentee voters. He said that in the 2007 elections, about 50,000 registered as absentee voters and 40,000 of them qualified. "Matumal po ang pumapasok na applications... you compare this 40,000 to 1,000, napakalaking diperensya (The influx of applications is slow, if you compare this 40,000 to the 1,000, it's a really big difference)," he said. Sarmiento thus urged the media and non-government groups to help them disseminate the March 7 deadline for the registration for local absentee voting. "Marami sila, sana po they avail of this local absentee voting, sayang naman ang boto nila (There are so many of them, we hope they avail of this local absentee voting, otherwise their votes would be wasted)," he said. "Their vote could be decisive... sa isang napakahigpit na labanan (especially since the fight) for president and vice president (is close)," he added. Last February, the Comelec released the guidelines for local absentee voting. (See: Comelec releases guidelines for local absentee voting) Those who wish to avail of the privilege must file their application forms with the head of their office. The head of the office must then submit to the poll body the accomplished applications and a certified list of their personnel who wish to vote offsite not later than March 7. If approved, they shall be allowed to vote anytime from April 24 to 26 in the place designated by the head of their agency and in the presence of an authorized Comelec representative. But just like overseas absentee voters, local absentee voters shall only be allowed to vote for national positions. Sarmiento said they will discuss the possibility of extending absentee-voter registration during next week's en banc. A total of 50,723,734 Filipinos in the country are qualified to vote while 589,830 more Filipinos abroad are expected to participate in the overseas absentee voting in the May automated polls. —JV, GMANews.TV