Comelec: Voters’ validation ends today

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) marks the end of the first phase of its P3-billion election modernization as the validation of old voters comes to a close today.

Comelec officials said the validation was "successful" despite a mere 17 percent turnout of the country’s 37 million voters, as based on the 2001 election records of the poll body.

A total of 6,461,525 old voters validated their registration by recording their pictures, fingerprints and signatures using the new digital equipment of the Comelec. These data were fed into the Comelec database.

The first phase of the poll modernization was the validation and registration of voters, which cost P1 billion. The second phase of the process was the procurement and installation of automated counting machines (ACMs) worth P1.7 billion. The final phase is the transmission of poll results, with a budget of P300,000.

Validated voters will be able to cast their ballots with relative ease. Those who failed to register under the electronic database may still vote, but the genuineness of their registration may be questioned by interested parties.

The Comelec’s Election and Barangay Affairs department acting head Divina Blas said the validation of voters will continue until the May 2004 elections to cover all of the country’s voters and include them in the Comelec database.

"It is successful, considering the short time we had," Blas said. She said the validation percentage also represents how much they reduced the probability of people becoming flying voters.

The Comelec has also digitally recorded the data of 5,831,319 new voters in its database. The registration and validation of these voters began in September with the registration of new voters ending on Nov. 9.