3 of 5 PWDs, seniors favor mall voting

MANILA, Philippines – Three out of five persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens are in favor of mall voting, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The SWS Pre-Election Survey, taken from Dec. 12 to 14, 2015, found 60 percent of PWDs and senior citizen respondents saying it would be easier for them if voting centers would be put in malls near them for the coming May 2016 elections.

Thirty-one percent and 30 percent of PWDs and senior citizens, respectively, disagreed that voting in malls will be easier.

The poll also found 63 percent of registered voters who agree that the process of voting would not be easy for a PWD if the PWD would vote in his or her current voting center. Sixty-five percent of senior citizens also expressed the same sentiment.

“The question items on the voting process for PWDs and senior citizens in current voting centers, and ease of going to mall voting centers for PWDs and senior citizens, are non-commissioned. These items were included on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” the pollster said.

The Commission on Elections said mall voting would save them millions of pesos as partner-malls are offering the use of their spaces for the elections for free.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista earlier said the poll body spent close to a million pesos during the 2013 mid-term polls just to rent 41 places owned by private entities.