Local absentee voters have until March 7 to file their applications online

MANILA—Applicants for local absentee voting (LAV) have until March 7 to submit their applications online to be able to participate in the forthcoming polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

The poll body urged those who would like to avail of the LAV to visit its website, www.comelec.gov.ph for them to be able to register online.

At the same time, the Comelec reminded government officials and workers as well as members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); and members of the media, including the technical and support staff not to be confused of the registration process, they just follow the instructions.

“Online Application Forms (OAF) are being made available from a secure site that uses Open Source security certificate. If this may sound foreign sounding to you, do not worry. It simply means that we are trying to secure your information from unscrupulous people who may want to steal them,” the poll body said.

It added, “If you access an Online Application Form for the first time from a computer or a mobile device, you may get a message (which is different for every web browser) telling you that the connection is untrusted or unsafe.”

Applicants may use the following browsers, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Android, iOS.

Those who can avail of the LAV are registered voters only.

Government workers, PNP and AFP personnel are eligible to the LAV since they are assigned to perform election day duties in places where they are not registered voters.

On the other hand, members of the media may also avail of the LAV since they will not be able to vote on election day due to the performance of their functions in covering the conduct of elections.

Based on Comelec Resolution No. 10003, those looking to apply to become local absentee voters can start submitting their applications until March 7, 2016.

Government officials and employees as well as the police and military may file their applications before their heads of offices, supervisors, and commanders while members of the media may file theirs before the Office of the Election Officer or Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor or, in the case of those in Metro Manila, at the Comelec-National Capital Region (NCR).

The applications of the members of the media are required to be accompanied by a certification from their companies that they are “bona fide members of the media”.

The voting for LAV has been set from April 27 to 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They will be electing for president, vice president, senators, and party-list organizations.

Government officials and employees as well as the police and military will be voting at designated voting centers to be identified by the superiors/commanders not later than April 12.

For media men, they are set to vote at the Comelec offices where they also filed their applications to avail of the LAV.