by magnolia_eic | Sep 28, 2010 | Headlines, National News
AFTER a long delay, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has finally gave the go signal for the printing of voters’ identification (ID) cards for over 34 million voters nationwide.
In a resolution, the Commission approved the request for printing of voters’ ID cards after ensuring that the voters’ records have been cleansed of multiple registrants.
Comelec Directors Teopisto Elnas (Operations) and Ester Villaflor-Roxas (Technical Matters) have reported that more than 35 million voters have already undergone the processing via the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
According to Elnas and Villaflor-Roxas, the procedure enabled the poll body to identify and remove from the list hundreds of thousands of multiple registrants.
They added that out of 35 million records processed, 738,640 records were found to be true and these records were already forwarded to the field offices for deletion. (PIA)
by magnolia_eic | Aug 14, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
DOUBLE or multiple registrants have surfaced at random and it is all because of the AFIS.
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) the program being used by the government’s poll agency in registering voters automatically matches the print traces of a single individual and raises red flags when similar fingerprint match surfaces, explains Atty Ariel Selma of the city Commission on Elections office.
Because of the AFIS, more than 400 voters from Tagbilaran alone have popped red flags when their prints were cross-matched while re-registering elsewhere.
Atty. Selma however was quick to add that the red flags were noted when former Tagbilaran City voters resettled and registered anew in their new precincts of choice.
Most of these red flags were not deliberate as instead of just requesting for transfer of records, they re-registered so the computer program picks them out.
A case he cited was for a Tagbilaranon who was demanded Comelec records in support of his employment abroad.
Having been a registered voter in Tagbilaran and being in Manila at that time, the concerned instead filed for a new registration, not knowing that the computer can pick him out due to his available and valid registration in Tagbilaran, Selma narrated.
Also, some of the 400 cases in Tagbilaran were traced to women who failed to request for change of status after marriage and registered instead as new voters with a different family name.
Names and status, even faces easily change, but the fingerprints stick to truly identify the person, Selma said further elaborating on the peculiarity of the fingerprint as a true identifying mark of a person.
There are signs that people who may be involved in these red-flags are innocent, but in some cases, as this is criminal offense, it may not be too far-fetched when COMELEC would file appropriate suits, Selma added. (rac/PIABohol)
