THE government is looking at the possibility of holding multiple voting days for the 2022 national elections to avoid turning next year’s polls into a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) super-spreader event, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. yesterday said.
Galvez, during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum, said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the National Task Force against coronavirus disease (NTF COVID-19) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are exploring all options on how to ensure the safety of the electorate during the conduct of the elections.
“We are looking at the possibility of conducting the election multiday, and not a single day election, so we can prevent the possible congregation of thousands of persons in precincts,” Galvez said.
He said another option being considered is holding the elections in phases or based on geographical location.
Galvez, who is the chief implementer of the NTF, said they will coordinate with the Senate and the House of Representatives for the enactment of the needed law that will amend the
traditional one-day voting.
He said there is still “plenty of time” to finalize the plans and pass the needed law before the May 2022 elections.
“We will collectively plan this with the Comelec and maybe with the Senate and Congress,” he added.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the presidential election is held every six years while mid-term polls are held every three years. The next presidential election is set for May 9, 2022.
The Comelec has said that 61.08 million have already registered to vote for the elections.
Meanwhile, Elections spokesman James Jimenez said the poll body has reservations over the proposed early voting for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs), particularly on physical and logistical concerns.
“Comelec remains committed to enforcing what Congress passes, but, of course, there are also physical limitations that should also be taken into consideration,” said Jimenez.
Jimenez explained that allowing seniors and PWDs to vote in advance would essentially mean having to hold two separate elections, which would need additional budget and manpower.
“Voting centers will open a week before the Election Day exclusively for seniors and PWDs.
Then presumably a week later, it will open for everyone else. That means two elections of national scope,” he said.
“We want to avoid having multiple election days because it will eat the funds for honoraria.
That is exactly the problem that we will see with early voting because you’ll need to give honoraria to those who manned early voting and regular voting,” added Jimenez.
The House of Representatives has passed a law that will allow eligible seniors and PWDs to vote at designated areas set by the Comelec ahead of Election Day.
This, however, comes on the heels of the Comelec’s 2022 budget being cut to P26.5 billion, which is lower than its requested P42 billion.
Instead of allowing early voting, the poll official believes that including the two vulnerable sectors in the local absentee voting scheme would be the better option because this would require a smaller additional budget and manpower unlike early voting.
“Absentee voting has no impact on physical voting because we only need to send the ballots to the designated voting centers and let them fill up the ballots,” said Jimenez.
Currently, the local absentee voting allows national and local media, civilian state workers, and uniformed personnel to cast their votes weeks before Election Day.
The Comelec said individuals in areas under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) that are looking to get registered as voters in time for the May 2022 polls may now finally do so.
“Comelec en Banc, just now, approved the conduct of (voter) registration, from 8 am – 5 pm, in areas under MECQ, starting September 6, 2021,” Jimenez said.
He said the permission includes the conduct of mall-based satellite voter registration in areas under MECQ.
No other details were made available by Jimenez and the Comelec, as of press time.
Just last Monday, former poll commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal yesterday asked the poll body to allow voter registration in MECQ areas.
This as voter registration activities are only held in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ).
Voter registration, on the other hand, are suspended in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and MECQ. — With Gerard Naval
