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New election regulations adopted
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Posted on Mar 21 2005
Voters can expect to see changes in the electoral procedure during the November general elections, with the Commonwealth Election Commission adopting amendments to its regulations.
The new policy stops the use of ink stain as proof of voting and introduces a new design for the ballot.
Under previous regulations, polling place supervisors were required to cross off the name of each voter on the list after the voter has received a ballot. In addition, each voter was required to have his or her right index finger marked with indelible ink to show that he or she has already voted.
But CEC executive director Gregorio Sablan said there is no need to use the ink stain during elections, as enough safeguards are now in place to ensure that no voter registers or casts a ballot more than once.
He noted that voters upon registration are required to provide their Social Security number, date of birth, and a document bearing their full legal name to guarantee that no person registers twice or more.
The Election Commission also changed the ballot design, organizing the names of candidates by race or office, as opposed to the current columnar format where names of candidates are listed according to political party.
Sablan said the new design reflects the local people’s new voting behavior. Unlike in the past, very few voters now vote straight along party lines, making it impractical to list candidates’ names according to political party.
By changing the ballot design, the commission also hopes to address a problem encountered during the last election concerning “overvotes”—or voters picking more candidates than the available slots in a particular office.
The new ballot design provides instructions informing voters of the number of offices to be filled in a particular position.
Last month, the Election Commission adopted a separate regulation allowing counted ballots to be discarded 16 months, instead of four years, from election day.
