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Comelec to look into claims of irregularity in OAV
FILE: ALL SET. The Commission on Elections is all set for the May 13 elections, its spokesperson, Director James Jimenez (left), says during the Broadcasters’ Forum held at Roland’s Farm to Table Restaurant along Visayas Ave., Quezon City on Wednesday (April 24, 2019). Jimenez also explained the issue of disenfranchised overseas absentee voters in the Middle East.
With him is National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) president, Rolly “Lakay” Gonzalo. (PNA photo by Ben Briones)
MANILA — An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said the allegation by an overseas voter that her vote for a particular senatorial candidate was credited to another aspirant would have to be validated and verified.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez noted that such complaint will undergo a process.
“There is a claim and that claim will have to be validated, have to be verified. Part of the process that these receipts are given to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) so that the allegation and complaint is fully reported in the minutes of the voting,” he added.
In a video on Facebook, an overseas voter claimed that there was an inconsistency on her ballot, saying she voted for senatorial bet Glenn Chong, but her vote allegedly went to senatorial candidate Gary Alejano.
Jimenez pointed out that they have contingencies prepared in case a voter contests what is printed on the receipt.
A voter receipt is issued by the vote counting machine (VCM) as a proof that his/her votes have been counted by the machine. It contains the names of the senatorial candidates and party-list group, the voter had chosen.
“If you will recall one of the contingencies that we have planned for is what happened when a voted contests the content of the receipt and ultimately the consensus really is that alleged inconsistency of the receipt is not actually proof that anything nefarious has happened,” Jimenez said.
Meanwhile, Jimenez urged the public not to immediately pass judgment with regards to the reported inconsistencies.
“Again if there are occasional instances where we see such case, we have to be careful before we jump to any conclusion,” he said.
“There are many ways to validate the claim and there are many reasons why it happened without going to the theory that we have been cheated,” Jimenez added.
