I just completed my first week at Project Vote as a fellow of the Young South East Asian Leaders Initiative Program through the American Council of Young Political Leaders. I am excited to work with an organization committed to voting rights and social justice, and I plan to bring back what I learn at Project Vote to my home country, the Philippines.
On Monday, May 9, the Philippines had its national election wherein Filipinos choose their candidates for president, vice-president, and local representatives. The Philippine Commission on Elections predicted that the recent election would have similar or worse voter turnout rates as the last presidential election in 2010, which reportedly had 74 percent of voters showing up to vote.
In 2013, there were more than 61 million Filipinos eligible voters. However, based on the 2013 local elections, only 52 million were registered voters, which means that there are around nine million Filipinos who are not registered to vote.
In addition, only 73 percent of registered voters voted in the 2013 Filipino election.
Where were the other 28 million Filipinos and why are they not voting?
“If Filipinos were able to register to vote during the campaign season, there might be better rates of voter turnout in the Philippines.”
In the Philippines, elections are usually tainted with election fraud and violence, such as flying voters (people who vote multiple times under different addresses), vote buying, theft of election paraphernalia, and harassment towards voters and election officials. This leads a lot of voters to abstain from voting or become apathetic. Money also has a huge influence on who gets elected, as the candidate with the most money usually gets elected either by popular vote or by fraud.
Voter registration in the Philippines is quite tedious and time-consuming. Voter registration lines are usually long, as registration is only offered during weekdays when most people are at work. The process of voter registration in the Philippines does not encourage citizens to register to vote. For example, the deadline to register to vote was October 31, 2015, but the election was not until yesterday.
The advent of internet and social media helped in facilitating participation in the electoral process through online forums and discussions. However, most of the election-related discussions occurred after the registration’s deadline. If Filipinos were able to register to vote during the campaign season, there might be better rates of voter turnout in the Philippines.
Hopefully, for the next three weeks here in Project Vote, I will be able to learn about voter registration and how to ensure that everyone in my country will be able to register and vote in the next election. There are a lot of things that need to be done, including organizing and mobilizing people to vote, advocating for voter-friendly laws, and calling for honest, fair, peaceful, and inclusive elections in the Philippines.
Jean Alia Robles is a fellow of the American Council of Young Political Leaders under the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative. She is working with Project Vote in May 2016 to learn more about voter engagement and how to apply it at home in the Philippines.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Project Vote.
