OFWs need it too

The registration of senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) at booths set up by the Commission on Election (Comelec) in several shopping malls Thursday was such a success it should be replicated all over the country.

The exercise proves the point that if the Comelec makes it easier for citizens to register as voters, they would come en masse to sign up so their voices could be heard come election time.

It would be safe to assume that at least half of those who registered at the malls would not have bothered to register for the 2016 elections had the registration process not been made more convenient and hassle-free.

A noted election lawyer quibbled about the Comelec registration at the malls as being in violation of some technicalities or some mundane rule.

However, his was the lone voice in the wilderness as the majority of Filipinos are in favor of any and all innovations that could make the registration and voting exercises easier.

Not only should the Comelec do this nationwide, it should also undertake, with the help of the labor and foreign affairs department, a new round of registration for Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) at malls in areas abroad with concentration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

That’s the least the Comelec can do considering that it has been a complete failure in making online registration for overseas Filipinos a reality at least for next year’s election.

Set up the registration booths at malls where overseas Filipinos are concentrated and fast-track the registration and our countrymen abroad would come to register, even if that means using their lunch breaks to do so. –END-

Image by: PhilStar