From Philippine Daily Inquirer
Link:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100411-263608/Gordon-to-Comelec-Ban-sample-ballots
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Senator Richard Gordon asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to issue a resolution banning the distribution of sample ballots to voters, warning that these could be exploited to buy votes and sabotage the automated election.
Gordon on Saturday said that allowing national and local candidates to print and give out sample ballots as campaign paraphernalia was also "environmentally unfriendly" and would be an "insane misuse of valuable resources."
Speaking with reporters in this city, Gordon said: "I am calling on the Comelec not to allow sample ballots."
Gordon, who authored the automated election law, warned that saboteurs could purposely insert the sample ballots, which would be designed to look similar to the actual ballot, to jam the counting machines and delay the election.
The sample ballots could also facilitate vote-buying, he added.
He said the shift to an automated election wiped out "wholesale cheating" in the form of selling tampered certificates of canvass but it will force the return to retail-style cheating through massive vote buying.
He also asked the Comelec to limit the number of allowed poll watchers per candidate or party, saying that some candidates hire as many as five poll watchers per precinct which is already a form of vote-buying.
Gordon said: "Everybody should be vigilant."
National and local candidates might give out sample ballots or stencils with pre-selected holes to serve as templates that voters would put on top of the actual ballot to reveal for shading only the holes corresponding the pre-selected candidates' names.
The stained stencils could be used as proof that the paid voters actually voted for the candidates that gave them money, Gordon said.
In the Senate hearings he presided over for the automated election law, Comelec officials "committed" that they would bar the use of sample ballots as campaign leaflets, Gordon also said.
But no resolution had been issued so far.
He said: "That (sample ballot) is no longer needed because voters will read the names of all the candidates in the official ballot anyway and they will just shade the ovals."
Still, Gordon expressed confidence on the poll body's preparation for the country's first automated election despite the scandal caused by the foiled purchase of overpriced folders.
He dismissed fears of widespread confusion on Election Day, saying Filipinos are intelligent.
He said: "We have the greatest capacity to complicate a simple political exercise."
Gordon said those questioning the conduct of the election should instead question how surveys are conducted.
Gordon has been ranking poorly in surveys, but he said people should not be fooled by survey results which try to condition people's minds.
In an interview on news channel ANC last week, Gordon said he got reports that his name and that of presidential bet Eddie Villanueva were not included in the survey questions.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Senator Richard Gordon asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to issue a resolution banning the distribution of sample ballots to voters, warning that these could be exploited to buy votes and sabotage the automated election.
Gordon on Saturday said that allowing national and local candidates to print and give out sample ballots as campaign paraphernalia was also "environmentally unfriendly" and would be an "insane misuse of valuable resources."
Speaking with reporters in this city, Gordon said: "I am calling on the Comelec not to allow sample ballots."
Gordon, who authored the automated election law, warned that saboteurs could purposely insert the sample ballots, which would be designed to look similar to the actual ballot, to jam the counting machines and delay the election.
The sample ballots could also facilitate vote-buying, he added.
He said the shift to an automated election wiped out "wholesale cheating" in the form of selling tampered certificates of canvass but it will force the return to retail-style cheating through massive vote buying.
He also asked the Comelec to limit the number of allowed poll watchers per candidate or party, saying that some candidates hire as many as five poll watchers per precinct which is already a form of vote-buying.
Gordon said: "Everybody should be vigilant."
National and local candidates might give out sample ballots or stencils with pre-selected holes to serve as templates that voters would put on top of the actual ballot to reveal for shading only the holes corresponding the pre-selected candidates' names.
The stained stencils could be used as proof that the paid voters actually voted for the candidates that gave them money, Gordon said.
In the Senate hearings he presided over for the automated election law, Comelec officials "committed" that they would bar the use of sample ballots as campaign leaflets, Gordon also said.
But no resolution had been issued so far.
He said: "That (sample ballot) is no longer needed because voters will read the names of all the candidates in the official ballot anyway and they will just shade the ovals."
Still, Gordon expressed confidence on the poll body's preparation for the country's first automated election despite the scandal caused by the foiled purchase of overpriced folders.
He dismissed fears of widespread confusion on Election Day, saying Filipinos are intelligent.
He said: "We have the greatest capacity to complicate a simple political exercise."
Gordon said those questioning the conduct of the election should instead question how surveys are conducted.
Gordon has been ranking poorly in surveys, but he said people should not be fooled by survey results which try to condition people's minds.
In an interview on news channel ANC last week, Gordon said he got reports that his name and that of presidential bet Eddie Villanueva were not included in the survey questions.
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