More electoral mails returned to PH embassy in London



by Rose Eclarinal, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

LONDON - A few hundred "return to sender" electoral mails were received by the Philippine embassy in London two weeks after the start of Overseas Absentee Voting.
As of April 25, a total of 934 were returned to the embassy because the voter might have moved to a new address or has unwittingly registered an incorrect address.
The UK, with 11, 911 registered voters, adopts postal voting where electoral mails are sent directly to voters. Ireland which has 1,109 registered voters is now under the UK Embassy.
"We are concerned that the registered voters have moved or relocated and unless they take the effort to check with the embassy, they might not be able to cast their ballots in time. This will be such a waste of government resources, a waste of the opportunity to exercise their right, especially since this is already a protracted period (one month) of elections of the overseas voters," said Deputy Chief of Mission Maria Fe Pangilinan.
Voters urged to vote, follow instructions
Due to the alarming number of returned electoral mails, the embassy has released an open letter to Filipinos in the UK and Ireland, reminding them about the OAV.
The letter signed by Ambassador Enrique Manalo said: "Voters who have not received their electoral mail by this time are strongly urged to inform the Embassy or check the embassy website to confirm if their names are on the list of registered voters. In this regard, those whose names are on the list may pick up their electoral mail at the embassy or request the embassy to re-post it to the correct address."
The Embassy also reminded the voters to be meticulous and follow the instructions in the electoral mail to ensure their votes are not invalidated.
The electoral mails include the instructions, list of candidates, ballot envelop, and paper seal. The ballots, before mailing it back to the embassy, have to be sealed using the paper seal and signed with the same signature used when they have registered.
The embassy has already received a total of 1,055 ballot envelops , of which 123 are invalid. The total number of ballot envelops from Ireland is 74, six are declared invalid.
The appreciation of the ballot envelops is done every weekend by the Special Ballot Custody Reception Group. Ballot envelops are declared invalid if there are no names and signatures in the space provided in the envelop.
"Don’t pass up the chance to exercise your right as a Filipino citizen. The election laws including the Overseas Voting Law were passed in response to the clamor of the overseas Filipinos. Let your voice be heard," said Pangilinan.

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