Ensuring honest elections

May 2013 is barely three months away and soon, the Filipino voters will again exercise their right to choose and vote for their preferred candidates. From now and until the votes are cast and counted, so much need to be done to ensure clean, honest elections: to ensure that the truly elected candidates are the ones truly proclaimed as winners.

Campaigns will accelerate all over the country. Comelec this time around seems to be serious about warning candidates not to post their campaign materials anywhere. Candidates are also prohibited from offering any food during their rallies. Will candidates and their supporters follow the rules of Comelec and will Comelec be able to enforce their rules?

In Japan, candidates can only post their campaign materials (with designated sizes) in a designated billboard prepared in designated locations by the electoral board. Hence, elections can remain eco-friendly because campaign posters are not allowed anywhere else outside of the officially designated locations during the campaign period. Removal of the campaign posters is easier too because of this policy. This practice may be worth the attention of Comelec?

Campaign periods also show clearly who among the candidates or parties have more resources. TV and radio campaign ads are certainly not free - holding rallies as well entail costs. Comelec may also wish to consider creative ways to equalize the exposure of candidates and the dissemination of their programs.

One practice we did before in UP Cebu and UP Visayas comes to mind. The Screening Committee scheduled all the open fora and meetings of the candidates for Chancellor with the constituents. All the candidates were given equal time to discuss their plans and vision. All the constituents, as well, were given ample time to ask questions and to know their candidates who were brought in together to the same campus by the screening committee. The candidates' accommodation and other expenses were shouldered by the university.

Is it possible for Comelec to take charge of all political rallies and schedules so that all candidates, regardless of resources, can have equal time to be presented to the public throughout the country? Maybe political funds and donations can be rationalized with an honest Comelec given resources to bring the candidates to various locations, with their travel, accommodation and other basic needs provided by Comelec?

Beyond campaigns, we all have to join hands together with Comelec to ensure that the votes cast are also the votes canvassed everywhere in our country. This early, we hope Comelec has been informed and has resolved possible election-related problem areas and issues.

Are polling places and personnel assigned to do what tasks per polling area already prepared and ready? Have the list of voters been double-checked and prepared as well? Has Comelec prepared a physical lay-out as well as a time-movement scheme about the flow of voters, from checking the voters' list, to registration, to getting the ballots, filling up the ballots, casting the ballots and exit from polling place for voters and safe honest canvassing of votes? Have they done trial runs to check where possible clogs may emerge?

It will help if there is already a check list of what to prepare and what to do where when, how, by whom for every polling place, before, during and after voting.

Perhaps you, our readers, may like to help draw up this checklist to share with Comelec? Or perhaps we can ask Comelec to share this checklist publicly so that everyone will do their share to ensure that the polling places, the personnel, the equipments and other resources needed for genuinely free voting and honest canvassing are ready and available?

Polling places should have only the authorized personnel inside and within some prescribed distance from the polling places to ensure complete freedom for voters to vote without coercion or vote buying. This early, Comelec can dry run and rehearse a well-organized, systematic flow of people, of ballots until honest, genuine voting and canvassing can be assured.

Again, so much to do, so much we can do together with an honest Comelec to ensure everyone's right to vote is honored and respected during this year's May elections.

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