Yes, that viral post about the Commission on Elections (Comelec) no longer issuing voter identification cards, for voters registered from 2012 to present, is fairly accurate: the Comelec has stopped issuing voter ID cards, post-2012.
The printing of voter IDs was suspended when discussions about the creation of a National ID system started up again in earnest, which actually happened long before the idea made it into the bill now being deliberated on by the Senate. Considering the possibility of duplication of efforts, not to mention concerns regarding the protection of data privacy, the Comelec decided it would be better to suspend the issuance of voter identification cards until such time that the idea of National ID either reached fruition or was finally discarded for good.
However, voters who were registered prior to 2012 have had their voter IDs issued. The Comelec also continues to issue replacements for lost voter ID cards, subject to the presentation of an affidavit of loss and the payment of a nominal fee. As of today, various Comelec offices nationwide currently still hold thousands of unclaimed voter ID cards, which, incidentally, are not required for voting.
And speaking of voting, that whooshing sound you hear is the collective sigh of relief exhaled by 57,284,798 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan voters learning that Congress went into recess this week without the Senate having done anything to support the House of Representatives’s initiative to postpone the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. Despite letting out a small puff of previously bated breath myself, I am guardedly optimistic at best. After all, the key personalities involved—the senators and the President—have all gone on record, saying that the village and youth polls would be proceeding as re-rescheduled. Barring the occurrence of some supervening event of earthshaking magnitude over the next seven weeks, it would appear that that’s as good a guarantee as any.
In light, therefore, of the dawning of this new optimism about the fate of the 2018 polls, a few reminders:
First, if you’re a voter in Luzon and the Visayas, expect your ballots to be dated October 2017, not May 2018. This is because you will be using ballots that were printed for use last year, before the polls were rescheduled for the second time. Voter in Mindanao, on the other hand, will have ballots dated May 2018 because these will have been printed only this year.
Second, the ballots for the barangay elections and the Sangguniang Kabataan elections differ in one major detail. On the SK ballot, the name of the election and the titles of the positions being voted on are printed in red ink. In contrast, all of the text on the Barangay ballot will be printed in black ink.
Third, there will be a total of 177,565 voting precincts operating on election day. You will be assigned to one of those precincts. As with all precincts nationwide, the Board of Election Tellers at your voting precinct will have a list of voters who are eligible to vote in that precinct. It will be indicated on that list which voters will receive only an SK ballot, an SK and a barangay ballot, and only a barangay ballot—voters aged 15 to 17, 18 to 30 and 31 up, respectively. This means that individual voters will simply be given the correct type and number of ballots they’re supposed to receive, without them having to prove their age.
Fourth, the barangay and SK elections will be manual, which means that the ballots will not have the names of the candidates preprinted on them. You will have to refer to the official list of candidates—which will be available at every voting station within the polling place—for the names of the candidates. You should copy the names of the candidates you’ve chosen, as they appear on the list. This will ensure that your vote is credited to the person you intended to choose.
And fifth, don’t take pictures of your filled-up ballot. Yes, that means don’t take selfies with the filled-up ballot either. And when you’re done casting your ballot, leave. You’ve done your part as a citizen in a functioning democracy, so give yourself a pat on the back, on the way out.
