EDITORIAL - Can we count the absentee votes?

Senators are finally acting like adults and returning to work. As part of reconciliation efforts, the two opposing camps have recognized the passage of several bills during the controversial session held by opposition members in June, when they considered themselves the new majority in the chamber. The senators, however, deferred approval of the absentee voting bill, which would allow millions of Filipinos working overseas to participate in Philippine elections.

No one is questioning the right of Filipinos abroad to vote, and Congress is sure to pass a law allowing absentee voting. The measure, however, must be thoroughly studied before Congress gives its final approval.

The first thing that must be considered is the capability of the government to count the votes. The Commission on Elections has enough problems counting votes cast in the Philippines. The Comelec botches even voter registration. A long-delayed plan to modernize the electoral process still hasn’t gotten off the ground, and it’s highly likely that come 2004, the results of the general elections will still be tallied manually.

Estimates of the number of Filipino citizens abroad range from four million to six million. That’s a sizable addition to the voting population of more than 30 million. Who will count their votes? Will the Comelec send representatives to all the countries where there are qualified Filipino voters? Will consular personnel be deputized? Will voting be done manually? Where will the votes be counted? In the Philippines, ballot boxes are switched or stolen. Can this be avoided abroad?

Then there’s the campaign. Six million is a lot of votes — enough to send a candidate to the Senate, or to provide the swing votes in a pre-sidential race. Candidates naturally will want to court voters overseas. How will candidates conduct their campaign? And more importantly for taxpayers, who will shoulder the costs if incumbent public officials go abroad to campaign? Can we keep track of such expenses? The Comelec can’t even enforce caps on campaign spending or require candidates to make an accounting of campaign contributions.

Giving Filipinos overseas a chance to vote is a fine idea. But given the state of our electoral process, lawmakers must make sure all the loose ends are tied up before approving absentee voting. Otherwise we could end up with major bungling at the polls and massive electoral fraud.