JUST over 10 days since the start of the overseas voting period, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said they have already met their target of 30 percent voter turnout for the May 9 polls.
In a television interview, Comelec – Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) head Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said: “Our overseas voting right now is very much interesting because, you know, even in the first day, there are so many overseas voters, who want to vote,” aaid Casquejo.
“For this early time period of voting, we have already reached our target, which is more than 30 percent,” he added.
The Comelec opened the voting period for the 1,697,215 registered Filipino voters based abroad last April 10.
With the voting period still open until May 9, the poll official said it is possible that there will be a higher voter turnout for the 2022 polls compared to the 2016 and 2019 elections.
In the previous elections, the voter turnout during presidential elections have been traditionally higher, with 2004 having 233,137 voters (65%), 2010 with 153,323 voters (26%), and 2016 with 430,695 voters (31%).
Comparatively, midterm polls have had lower voter turnouts with 2007 having 81,732 voters (16%), 2013 having 118,823 voters (16%), and 2019 with 336,447 voters (18%).
Elections Commissioner George Garcia urged registered overseas voters to already cast their votes. “Hopefully, the initial number of voters lining up in the embassies and consulates will increase further,” he also said.
Meanwhile in New York, the Philippine Consulate General said it has already mailed out 70 percent of ballots to registered overseas Filipino voters in its jurisdiction.
Consul General Elmer Cato said they are confident they would be able to mail all the ballots to Filipino voters by the end of the week.
Cato said they have been working overtime for the past eight days to ensure that ballots that arrived only last Monday would reach registered Filipino voters as soon as possible.
Cato has earlier announced that consular services were temporarily suspended this week after many of the staff contracted or have been exposed to COVID-19. The consulate would resume normal operations on Monday, April 25.
A total of 1,697,215 overseas Filipinos are registered to vote in the May 9 elections as absentee voters, including 198,935 in the United States.
Of the Filipinos in the US who registered to vote, 39,048 are in the states of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. — With Ashzel Hachero