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Garcia calls for law allowing overseas Filipinos to vote online
By HANA BORDEY,GMA NewsCommission on Elections Chairman George Garcia is urging the creation of a law that would allow overseas Filipinos to cast their votes through the internet.
"Alam niyo po talaga, high time na lalo na po sa ating mga overseas Filipinos na dapat po i-introduce na natin through legislation itong tinatawag na internet voting," Garcia said in an interview on The Mangahas Interviews.
In supporting his proposal, Garcia cited the overseas turnout in Eleksyon 2022 of only 39%.
"Dapat po ay isagawa na natin 'yan, pag-aralan na natin 'yan. Puwede ba talaga sa atin 'yung internet voting? Hindi man domestic, kahit po muna sa overseas Filipinos kasi po bakit? Bakit 39% lang ang nakaboto nitong nakaraang eleksyon sa overseas voting?" he asked.
Although this percentage is higher than the previous overseas election turnouts, Garcia lamented that not even half of the registered overseas voters were able to cast their votes.
Among the reasons that the Department of Foreign Affairs, ambassadors, and consuls submitted to Comelec on the low turnout in overseas voting is that some Filipinos cannot cast their votes due to their work.
"Pero take note...lahat ng overseas Filipinos magaling sa internet dahil 'yan ang paraan nila sa pakikipag-communicate sa [ating] mga kababayan at kamag-anak. So bakit hindi natin i-avail ang online voting?" Garcia said.
Under his proposal, Garcia said an Internet Protocol (IP) address will be assigned to each voter to maintain the secrecy of their ballots and their votes.
As early as 2012, the Comelec has been asking Congress to pass a law
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In June 2021, the poll body signed a memorandum of agreement with three solutions providers for the live test runs of internet voting systems.
In September 2021, Comelec conducted an online voting test run with information technology firms Indra, Smartmatic and Voatz.
The poll body had said the internet voting test runs are part of exploratory study of internet-based technologies for possible use in internet voting.
According to Republic Act 9189 or the Overseas Voting Act, Comelec is authorized to explore internet-based technologies for overseas voting.
A proper legislation is needed before the internet voting system can be used in the country’s regular elections. — BM, GMA News