Press Release
January 16, 2010

ROXAS WANTS VOTERS' LIST MADE PUBLIC EARLY
EARLY SOLUTION TO USUAL PROBLEMS ON ELECTION DAY SOUGHT

Seeking to prevent syndicated cheating and help voters deal with the usual problems that would make it hard or discourage them from voting in the May 10 national and local elections, Senator Mar Roxas asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) early this week to make public at the soonest time possible the list of registered voters nationwide.

Roxas, president of the Liberal Party, said ensuring public access to the list this early would deter cheating and lessen the usual bedlam that attend polling places on Election Day due to the usual voter complaints such as transfer of names to another precinct, double registration and worse, unquestionable deletion of names in the list of registered voters.

He added that timely information as to where and which precinct individual voters could vote would deter cheaters from carrying out nefarious plans to tamper with the list or pad it with fictitious names.

In a letter addressed to Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, the senator stressed: "The voters' list shall certainly be instrumental in informing, guiding and preparing the electorate as to the particulars for the exercise of their voting rights."

He added: "Needless to say, having the voters' list at the soonest time possible would help prevent disenfranchisement of voters and minimize, if not eliminate, unnecessary confusion during Election Day."

The Visayan senator said the voters' list could be made publicly available through the Internet and by posting at all Comelec offices nationwide, "ready for access and viewing anytime of the day, especially during office hours."

Roxas said it is important for the public to have access to the voters' list in light of Comelec records showing that there are already 49.2 million registered voters for this year's national and local elections, which is 4 million more than the number of registered voters during the 2007 polls. The figure excludes the additional number of new registrants during the extended registration ordered by the Supreme Court last December.

He also noted earlier Comelec announcements that it has purged 4 million names from the 2007 voters list. Melo had said a total of 3.879 million voters were "deactivated" after failing to vote in the last elections, while 192,648 others had died.

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