Pinoy voters in US ask for extension of overseas absentee voting due to delay in ballot delivery

NEW YORK - Some registered Filipino voters in the US appealed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend the overseas absentee voting (OAV) in their area for Eleksyon 2022.

This is due to the delay in the delivery of election packets which include official ballots.

Majority of registered overseas absentee voters in Northeast US have not yet received the election packets.

The situation is the same for voters in the southern part of US, including the states of Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. 

The delay in the delivery of election packets has affected more than 35,000 overseas absentee registered voters in areas under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC.

According to Mark Dominic Lim of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC, the delivery of election packets was delayed by three days due in turn to the delay in the shipment of Comelec.

Some voters were disappointed, among them Flo Coronel of Woodside, New York who to date has not yet received the election packet with the official ballot.

Nerissa Allegretti of 1Sambayan USA, in an online press conference said it is not the voters' fault that there would be a delay when voters send in their ballots.

It is possible that voters in faraway places may not be able to send in their ballots immediately, she said.

The Philippine Consulate General in New York is working hard to send out more than 39,000 official ballots to registered voters, but they said they have no control over the delivery date as this is up to the US Postal Service. They are hoping however that USPS will deliver the ballots as soon as possible.

Consul General Elmer Cato of the Philippine Consulate General in New York asked voters for patience and understanding.

"More kababayan in New York and surrounding areas will be receiving their election packets in the next several days with the delivery to the post office this morning of several thousand ballots," Cato said in a text message sent to GMA News.

"The Philippine Consulate General in New York will strive to get more ballots to our kababayan in the next several days despite the delay in the arrival of election materials that was compounded by COVID exposure of several of its personnel," he added.

"We have worked continuously for the past seven days since the ballots arrived and have not availed ourselves  of our Holy Week break. We are sleep deprived and exhausted but we continue to perform our election duties while having to simultaneously serve the consular needs of our kababayan. We are not complaining but we would appreciate it if kababayan who have been waiting for their ballots would extend to us their kind patience and understanding. We are doing everything we can to get those ballots to you," Cato said.

The OAV started on Sunday, April 10, but voters in northeast US were not able to vote that day due to the delay in delivery of election paraphernalia.

The Philippine Consulate General in New York finally received on Monday, April 11, the vote counting machines and other election paraphernalia to be used in Eleksyon 2022.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy in Washington called on Filipino overseas absentee  voters in the district to inform them of their available options for voting after some mailed election ballots were returned to the embassy. —KG, GMA News