Overseas Filipinos express distrust in digital voting systems
New Article:
AFP, MANILA
The innovative online voting system destined to ramp up turnout for the millions of overseas Filipino workers participating in the Philippines' upcoming mid-term elections has sparked apprehension and accusations of potential disenfranchisement.
Voters like Jun Burlasa III, a Filipino working in Singapore, have already cast their ballots in this election characterised by a fierce power struggle between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his ousted vice president, Sara Duterte.
As of yet, official turnout numbers have not been published, but data provided by the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) reveals that over 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the modern online system, launched on April 13.
However, Burlasa expresses discontent with the digital approach, describing the system as "convoluted and dubious." His main concern lies with the verification process, which involves a digital QR code that takes users to a webpage asking them to confirm their ballot has been submitted accurately. This page also lists an assortment of candidate names, many of which Burlasa claims he did not vote for.
Numerous social media posts have expressed similar worries about the unclear and nerve-wracking website.
Eman Villanueva, a Hong Kong-based advocate with migrant rights group BAYAN, confesses to uncertainty about whether his vote was properly counted.
"There isn't the slightest chance for voters to be confident that their votes have genuinely been registered," Villanueva disclosed.
In prior overseas elections, voters had the option of reviewing the names they chose after the fact, but the commission asserts that the QR code was never meant to serve this purpose. Instead, the landing page's sole objective was to verify receipt of the ballot, asserting that all running candidates should appear on the page.
Ian Geonanga, the COMELEC overseas voting director, shared that the commission is reviewing feedback regarding the system and intends to address concerns in future elections. However, election watchdogs have criticised the commission for insufficient explanation of the new system and warn of potential confusion as a disenfranchising factor.
Ona Caritos, executive director of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections, explains, "If people aren't familiar with the system initially, they won't trust it right away."
Since April 14, nearly 1.5 million people have viewed a video featuring a Philippines-based engineer, Jaydee San Juan, questioning ChatGPT about the candidates visible on the ballot verification page. ChatGPT responded that it is "highly likely" the displayed candidates correspond to those selected using the provided ballot ID. But when COMELEC conducted their own ChatGPT experiment, the results diverged from this assessment, according to Geonanga.
Meanwhile, the election commission's attempts to dispel anxieties about the new system have been misused for the propagation of further disinformation. Fact-checkers from Agence France-Presse debunked a video expertly edited to give the false impression that Geonanga is stating the online ballots were intentionally designed to manipulate the election's results.
The debacle casts doubt on the election commission's ability to inspire the anticipated increase in turnout as hoped, particularly among the population of overseas Filipino workers. According to Danilo Arao, convener of voting watchdog Kontra Daya, even minor alterations to the ballot layout might have helped instil confidence and deter widespread disenfranchisement.
Caritos expresses concern that the distrust in the online voting system could affect the participation of overseas Filipino workers not only in the upcoming election, but also in the 2028 presidential election.
"We don't want that," Caritos said, "because if election results aren't trusted by our voters, it will have a domino effect, potentially undermining the legitimacy of the government."
- The online voting system for the 2028 presidential election could face similar apprehension and accusations of potential disenfranchisement among overseas Filipino workers, as expressed by Ona Caritos, due to concerns about trust and clarity in the verification process.
- In the 2022 mid-term elections, some Filipinos like Eman Villanueva have expressed uncertainty about whether their vote was properly counted, potentially leading to disenfranchisement, due to the unclear and nerve-wracking digital website used for ballot verification.
- General-news reports have indicated that election watchdogs have criticised the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for insufficient explanation of the new online voting system used in the 2022 elections, fearing that this lack of clarity could lead to confusion and potential disenfranchisement.
