Comelec to give incentives for overseas absentee voters

To encourage overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to register for the overseas absentee voting (OAV), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) intends to provide incentives if they register for and vote in the May 13, 2013 Philippine elections.   Comelec Committee on OAV (COAV) Chairman Armando Velasco said, “We will try to give them incentives. Maybe after they register and vote, when they come home to the Philippines, there will be a raffle or an incentive for them." Velasco noted that most Filipinos would rather work or be with their families rather than go out to register for the elections.   “We noticed that we have been trying our best to encourage them, but because they prioritize their work more, we thought of having a gimmick like this incentive,” Velasco said.   However, he admitted that they are still working out the mechanics of a possible raffle which may include a trip to Boracay or Baguio or a Duty Free gift certificate, among others. Absentee voters   The registration for OAV started on November 2, 2011 and will run October 31, 2012.   The Comelec is looking to register one million absentee voters. Velasco said only 16,070 Filipinos have registered as absentee voters as of January 18, 2012.   Based on COAV data, the highest number of registrants are located in:

• Los Angeles (1,760);
• Riyadh (915);
• Tel Aviv (866);
• Milan (847);
• London (729);
• Dubai (725);
• Hong Kong (637);
• San Francisco (627);
• Macau (613); and
• Singapore (517).

Velasco noted that there were 347,453 absentee voters during the 2010 national and local polls. - VVP, GMA News