Internet voting results in Singapore nonbinding – Comelec

Filipinos registered as absentee voters in Singapore will have to cast their ballots by mail and, at the same time, vote via the Internet. Of the two modes of voting, only the results from the postal voting will be tallied with the official votes, explained director James Jimenez, spokesman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Voting results via the Internet will be non-binding, Jimenez said. “The electronic voting would still be carried out but its results will not be tallied with the official votes," he said. “It will be a non-binding implementation of Internet voting. What will be officially counted are those who will be cast through mail or those cast at the Philippine Embassy in Singapore," Jimenez said. “We’re just trying this (system) to prove the soundness of the exercise," he explained. “If it will be an extra burden to them, they may not participate," he added. Because of certain conflicts over legal issues with Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the joint congressional oversight committee on absentee voting, the Comelec agreed to a non-binding pilot-test Internet voting for qualified Filipino voters in Singapore. Gordon has opposed the Comelec plan to pilot-test Internet voting for the May 14 elections even as he was pushing for the automation of the elections in selected areas in the country. "It's not even a good pilot, Internet voting is so full of holes, it's a very porous network and it would entail a huge amount of expenditure to ensure that the transmission is safe," Gordon said. It was earlier reported that for Internet voting, Comelec will spend P877 per voter while local ballot voting costs between P 400 to P 500 per person. Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos had insisted that Internet voting is allowed under the Absentee Voting Act, but he had to abide by the Senate directive that Internet voting results cannot be binding. Jimenez said threats of legal action that could lead to the disenfranchisement of the 26,000 Filipino voters in Singapore prompted the Comelec en banc to yield Gordon’s position. Commissioner Florentino Tuason Jr., chairman of the committee on overseas absentee voting, had asserted that Comelec can hold an Internet voting under Section 52 of Batas Pambansa 881, or the 1985 Omnibus Election Code (OEC), as well as in Sections 16.11 of the Overseas Absentee Voting Law (Republic Act 9189). Jimenez asserted the poll body did not err in awarding the project to Spain-based Scytl for P23.5 million, or P877 per voter. While admitting that it did not go through the bidding process, Comelec said it sought the legal opinion of the Office of the Solicitor General who authorized direct purchase considering that Scytl is the only company providing for Internet voting technology. “We are sure of having solid legal basis. But this will not stop them from filing cases against us. This will just be preparation in case a TRO is issued because it might (disenfranchise) the votes of those in Singapore," said Jimenez. Comelec chose Singapore because of its high Internet penetration rate. Filipino voters could cast their vote from any location in Singapore, even in their employer’s home, provided it has access to the Internet. Absentee voting for more than 500,000 registered Filipinos abroad will start on April 14. Overseas absentee voting was first implemented in 2004, marking the first time in the country’s political history that Filipinos abroad were allowed to exercise their rights to suffrage. - GMANews.TV