Comelec: 'Almost sure' voting hours will be extended in 2022 polls

Voting period in the 2022 elections, which will be held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to be extended by two to three hours, a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official said Monday.

Comelec Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr. made the announcement during a forum on ensuring safe, fair and free 2022 elections hosted by the Ateneo School of Government.

"The direction we are going is to hold it in a day with extended voting hours. That is almost sure," Kho said.

"Eight hours won’t cut it. It could run 10 or even 12 hours, depending also on the capacity of the teachers."

Teachers serve as Board of Election Inspectors during Philippine elections.

"Most probably, there will be additional two or three hours," Kho also said.

However, going beyond one-day voting, Kho said, is unlikely since its legality could be questioned given that extended voting days are not provided under election laws.

"We might need Congress [to amend the law] for that. Kung gawin kasi natin tapos may mag-kwestiyon sa Supreme Court, patay na lahat," he pointed out.

(If we do extended voting days and the election is questioned before the Supreme Court, everything will be for nothing.)

From 1,000 votes per precinct in 2019 polls, Kho said the Comelec is looking at reverting to 2016 level of voters to precinct ratio of 800 voters per precinct to be able to observe social distancing, among other minimum public health standards.

Likewise, Kho said that the Comelec is looking at buying 10,000 more Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) for the 2022 polls.

"We have 97,000 VCMs, but of course, some of them need to be repaired [or] refurbished and we don't expect them to be all okay, so we are looking at buying 10,000 more VCMs to comply with the 800 per precinct ratio," Kho said.

Based on Comelec records, there are at least 61 million registered voters for the 2022 polls.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez earlier said that there is no reason to postpone the 2022 elections even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the poll body is planning the 2022 elections on a scenario that herd immunity against COVID-19 is not yet reached. --KBK, GMA News