Manila, Philippines – The country’s election body Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has partnered with hackathon organizer Impact Hub Manila to upgrade its voter education website called ‘Vote Pilipinas’, as the country gears up with the upcoming 2022 national elections.
Aside from being a sole website, ‘Vote Pilipinas’ is the campaign arm of COMELEC in raising awareness among the public to go out and register to the nearest COMELEC office in their municipality.
Furthermore, the site showcases easily-digestible information on the registration process, voting precincts, requirements, and important dates to remember.
“We are thrilled for Filipino people to utilize and take advantage of Vote Pilipinas. This is a crucial step to educate voters and bring more people in to exercise their right to suffrage,” said James Jimenez, COMELEC spokesperson.
In addition to the existing information on the site, ‘Vote Pilipinas’ will now have a Voter Registration Service Test which gives users additional information such as the nearest Office of the Election Officer to contact, list of IDs to bring, forms to download, and other important reminders to reduce the time spent at COMELEC headquarters during on-ground registration.
Initially launched last August 2020, the campaign responds to the data obtained by COMELEC that only 75.9% of registered voters turned up to cast their votes in 2019, or that about 1 in every four registered voters did not participate in voting. Hence, the campaign aims to register 7 million more voters this upcoming election.
“One of the campaign’s goals is to provide every Filipino with access to the right information so they can register and ultimately vote. We hope that through the Vote Pilipinas campaign, we can shift mindsets and make people realize that every vote counts,” said Ces Rondario, Impact Hub Manila’s co-founder and the brainchild of Vote Pilipinas.
According to a town hall conference conducted by ‘Vote Pilipinas’ yesterday, 24 March, part of the campaign will also rely on external help from volunteers, partners and stakeholders, from media practitioners, social media influencers and community organizations.
