THE Commission on Elections has set on Feb. 11, 2010 the organization of Special Boards of Canvassers (SBC) in each of the more than 100 countries where there are overseas Filipino workers qualified to vote under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003.
Under the law, overseas absentee voters are qualified to vote for President, Vice-President, Senators and groups accredited to participate in the party-list elections. They are, however, not qualified to vote for governor, congressman, mayor and other local elective officials.
The Comelec said that except in Singapore and Hong Kong, overseas absentee voting will be conducted manually by the Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEIs) while the SBC, subject to reasonable exceptions, is mandated to complete the canvass of election returns submitted by SBEIs within 36 hours.
The SBC is required, after canvassing, to prepare eight copies of the Certificates of Canvass for President, Vice-President, Senators, and Party-List Representatives, according to Commissioner Armando Velasco, chairman of the Comelec Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting. (PIA)