The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has thumbed down the idea of extending overseas voting as it will go against the Constitution.
Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said extending the voting period for Filipinos overseas is not possible since the law allows it to be held only until the actual election day in the Philippines.
There are about 1.7 million registered Filipino voters overseas.
“The extension is not happening because we only have until May 9, Philippine time. We cannot extend beyond May. That would be a violation of the Constitution,” he said during the vote-counting machine (VCM) demonstration at a mall in Pasay City on Monday.
Election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) on Monday said there were several “irregularities” in Comelec’s conduct of overseas voting.
In an interview, LENTE executive director Ona Caritos said several issues, such as delay of ballot shipments and possible tampering, were reported since the overseas voting began last April 10.
Caritos urged voters who experience problems with postal voting to immediately reach out to the Philippine embassy or consulate.
Casquejo, who heads the Comelec’s overseas voting committee, admitted there have been delays. But these were all resolved, the official said..
The idea of extending the polls came after reports that there were delays at the start of the voting period on April 10.
“The delayed arrival of ballots has already been resolved. Just a one-day delay,” Casquejo said.
He, however, said they are concerned with the 1,991 Filipino voters in Shanghai which is under lockdown due to rising COVID-19 cases. “The only issue is really Shanghai. Let’s see what the decision en banc will be. For now, it is still suspended until such time that the lockdown is lifted,” Casquejo said.
Meanwhile, the delivery of VCMs began during the first week of April.
“We started the delivery of VCMs to remote areas in the first and second week of April. The delivery of the ballots will start in the third week or last week,” Casquejo said.
He said they are looking to destroy defective ballots by the last week of April and subsequently reprint them.
The 178,990 defective copies so far are smudged or not perfectly cut, among others.