20M Filipinos may not be allowed to vote in 2013 elections – Jimenez

ABOUT 20 million people are at risk of being excluded by the Commission on Elections from the 2013 elections if House Bill 3469 becomes a law.

The bill introduced by Tarlac Rep. Susan A. Yap, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. may be passed by 2013 as it is now on its 3rd reading from the House of Representatives.

The bill requires all registered voters whose biometrics have not been taken by the office to present their photographs, fingerprints and signatures to COMELEC election officers for identification purposes and to avoid padding of voters’ lists.

COMELEC Director James Jimenez said that voters who have not provided biometric information to the COMELEC may not be able to vote in the next election.

“Recent registrants have the biometrics but those who have been listed up before 2004 may likely lack the biometrics,” Jimenez added during his interview in DZRB/PTV’s Talking Points.

The bulk of the voting population consists of those registered before 2004 and are marked as registered voters but are required to visit COMELEC offices to have their biometric data taken.

“Such biometrics is encoded in your voter’s ID. That can be proof of identity and once this measure is enacted, you cannot vote if you lack biometrics,” he added.

However, the COMELEC is not included within the consortium of agencies such as GSIS and SSS who use a unified ID but is open to possibilities of interconnectivity in the future as their ID will contain basic information for verification purposes where voters fingerprints, faces and electronic signatures will be stored in the COMELEC database. –Manila Times