Local absentee voting for 21,000 voters begins Wednesday

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Tuesday that everything is all set for the conduct of the local absentee voting beginning Wednesday, April 28, until April 30. "We're on track in terms of local absentee voting," Comelec Committee on Local Absentee Voting head Commissioner Rene Sarmiento told reporters in an interview. Covered by the local absentee voting are around 21,000 government officials and employees as well as members of the military and police who will be on election duty in places where they are not registered on May 10, election day. The guidelines released by the Comelec last February indicate that those who were approved to avail of the local absentee voting shall be allowed to vote anytime from April 28 to 30 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. Local absentee voting is also traditionally done manually. Sarmiento said they can vouch for the security of the ballots and the conduct of the local absentee voting. "We just entrust it to the head of that office," he said, adding that voting will be done in the presence of election officers. He added that after the conduct of the local absentee voting ends, the ballots will directly be sent to the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila — where they will be stored until election day. "They will count and canvass the votes on May 10," Sarmiento said. A total of 50,723,734 Filipinos in the country are qualified to vote while 589,830 more Filipinos abroad are also expected to participate in the overseas absentee voting in the May automated polls. Overseas absentee voting began on April 10 and will end on May 10. — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV