Tolentino calls for alternative absentee voting method for Pinoy seafarers

Tolentino calls for alternative absentee voting method for Pinoy seafarers
January 20, 2021 https://politics.com.ph/tolentino-calls-for-alternative-absentee-voting-...

MANILA – Administration Senator Francis Tolentino has urged the country’s poll body to devise a method that would ensure that all Filipino seafarers may exercise their right to suffrage.

During Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, Tolentino asked officials from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to look into the plight of Filipino seafarers who have been deprived of their right to vote because they are at sea most of the time.

While the current process allows seafarers to vote by going to the nearest embassy or consular post during the 30-day voting period, Tolentino noted that most seafarers are at sea for six months, which is the usual duration of their contracts.

Director James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman, agreed with Tolentino’s sentiment, adding that the poll body is studying other ways to provide seafarers various avenues to cast their votes.

But Jimenez admitted that country’s poll body has not yet made use of online voting technology to allow seafarers to vote while at sea.

Meanwhile, Tolentino suggested that the Comelec deputize Filipino captains of Philippine-flagged vessels, which are considered part of the country’s territory under the law, to oversee the casting of ballots by Filipino seafarers under their authority while at sea. (JCC)