More overseas voters before sign-up deadline eyed

MANILA: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday expressed optimism about meeting its target of 1.48 million registered overseas voters for next year's midterm elections. '(We have) a lot of expectations still sa (in the) remaining days of registration... Sa overseas voters, kapag nakarating sa kanila na internet voting na, malamang magparehistro na sila (As for our overseas voters, they might sign up once they would hear that internet voting will be available for them),' Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia said in an interview. Citing the poll body's latest data, Garcia reported that there were 1.18 million Filipino voters abroad. 'Sana nga sa announcement na internet voting, from 1.180 million, ma-reach man lang sana namin ang target na 1.486 million na boboto abroad (We hope that with the announcement of internet voting, from 1.18 million, we are hoping to reach our target of 1.48 million)," he added. He said there was still a lot of time for Filipinos abroad to register as the deadline for the sign-up period is still more than a month away. For the first time, Comelec will be using internet voting in 76 Philippine posts worldwide in the forthcoming polls. 'The different Philippines posts should conduct more satellite registrations,' he said. Aside from internet voting, the poll body will be using automated counting machines for the 33,328 overseas voters in 17 Philippine posts. The filing of applications for overseas voter registration started on Dec. 9, 2022 and is set to end on Sept. 30 this year. Source: Philippines News Agency