Marcos calls for passage of early voting law to mitigate health risks in 2022 polls

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – Senator Imee Marcos who chairs the Senate Committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation has called on the senate for the swift passage of early voting law to reduce crowding on elections day and further mitigate the health risks and to support the government’s mass vaccination rollout program to ensure the smooth and safe conduct of national elections in 2022.

“May I urge President Duterte to certify the urgency of passing an early voting law and make a smooth and safe transition of leadership part of his legacy,” Marcos said adding that planning for elections has become more complicated due to the pandemic.

She said that the delay in passing such a law denies the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ample time to plan pandemic-related measures and fix a proper budget to put them in place.

Marcos filed Senate Bill 1104 in October last year to allow early voting for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) but said she intends to include health workers, military and police personnel, poll watchers, and the media when the bill is taken up in the Senate.

Expanding the list of groups eligible for early voting will reduce overcrowding and health risks in next year’s elections.  

Run-throughs may be needed. Haphazard preparations and resulting voter confusion will undermine the legitimacy of the elections, she stated.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recorded in 2019 more than eight million senior citizens and PWDs who chose not to cast their votes than flock to polling precincts with the general public, Marcos said and arrangements for about 400,000 Filipino seafarers as well as voters returning to the provinces amid the differing quarantine protocols of local government units will also need to be settled.

“Moreover, new voting precincts that will accommodate fewer people will need to be created and new voting venues identified to comply with social distancing and other safety protocols,” the senator added.

Marcos expressed optimism that the “sluggish registration of new voters” would also improve before the September deadline, if a law for early voting is passed.