Overseas absentee voting system failed – COA

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) believes the government’s aim to enable overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to vote in national elections was not fully attained in 2012 and 2013.

In a report released recently, state auditors said the low turnout of voters in the 2012 and 2013 polls showed that the objectives of the overseas absentee voting system (OAVS) were not fully achieved.

“We also recommended that the (Philippine embassies) make the necessary representation with the Comelec (Commission on Elections) to allocate a reasonable amount for transportation to be provided for those voters who live very far from the precinct and for an awareness campaign in order to encourage more Filipinos abroad to participate in the Philippine elections through the OAVS and emphasizing the importance of casting their votes,” read the COA report.

The COA report was apparently written before the 2013 elections.

“We, however, appreciated the efforts of the posts and are optimistic that this will continue during the conduct of the 2013 elections,” read the report.

The COA report said in 2010, the main problems given for low voter turnout include general distrust in the voting system; field voting was not allowed; and many voters were unable to go to polling areas to vote because of the high cost of transportation.

Other issues raised included manual counting, Comelec’s election paraphernalia were sent a week before the election period, and wrong posters for information on voting by mail instead of personal voting, the report added.

The COA asked the Department of Foreign Affairs  and the Comelec to further improve the system of allowing OFWs  to participate in national polls.

The  DFA must send  proposals to the Comelec on the issues of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the next elections; field voting should be allowed; voters who failed to vote twice be excluded in the registry; and paraphernalia, posters and flyers be sent earlier, the COA said.

In response, the DFA said it will continue to exert more effort in registering as many OAVs as possible through active dissemination of information through their website and in conjunction with consular outreach missions to the different areas of  jurisdiction.