Probe Comelec’s online voting for OFWs —Pimentel

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Friday questioned the legality and implementation of internet voting for overseas Filipino voters for the upcoming 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE).

Pimentel filed Senate Resolution No. 1344 urging the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation to conduct an investigation into whether “the Commission on Elections (Comelec) acted within its authority.”

The probe meant to see if the online election system would meet the requirements for “transparency, voter verifiability, and electoral integrity” needed for the elections.

In the resolution, Pimentel cited Sections 23 and 28 of Republic Act No. 9189, as amended by RA 10590, which states that Comelec was required to submit recommendations to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee before implementing a new method of voting.

Pimentel noted alleged complaints from Filipinos abroad, including missing vote confirmation receipts, inaccessible online platforms, interface glitches, and mismatched QR codes with unreadable voting data.

He also raised the low registration for internet voting among the 1.2 million registered voters and several organizations raising concerns over the implementation, saying that it may reflect “lingering doubts” on the system.

“There are those who hold the legal position that the two cited sections of the law must be read together and would result in the conclusion that the Comelec does not have the authority to motu proprio adopt online voting,” Pimentel said.

“These incidents have circulated widely on social media platforms and news outlets, amplifying fears of possible electoral fraud or technical failure… This highlights the urgent need to assess whether the internet voting system sufficiently meets standards of security, transparency, voter verifiability, and electoral accountability,” he added. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/LDF, GMA Integrated News

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