Comelec to provide over 68M voters with ‘kodigo’

For the first time ever, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) started on Wednesday the door-to-door distribution of voter’s information sheets (VIS) for the May 12 elections.

“It is not a scam,” Comelec Chair George Garcia said as he assured the public that although they would need to sign a form to indicate they received their VIS, their signatures would not be used for other purposes.

“Your signature would neither be used for a people’s initiative to change the constitution or a signature campaign for the impeachment of any official,” he added.

“The signature will just be used as evidence for the Comelec to confirm that the VIS was received by the voter or their household,” Garcia said.

“It may look like an ordinary piece of paper for others, but the VIS is mandated by law,” he added.

“Others may be questioning why it is only now that we are distributing VIS; maybe because it is only this election season that the Comelec focused on providing it to each registered Filipino voter,” Garcia told reporters in Pasay City.

Each of the over 68 million registered voters will receive the VIS, a four-page guide containing the voter’s name, the number and location of their polling precincts, as well as a sample ballot containing the names of the candidates from senators and party list groups down to the local level, instructions on how to vote and other reminders.

Garcia advised voters to bring the VIS as a “kodigo” (cheat sheet) on May 12 to help them remember candidates, rather than accepting sample ballots.

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For those who do not receive their VIS, the Comelec will put up its online precinct finder two weeks before Election Day, so that voters can verify their precinct number and check their voter registration.

According to Garcia, the Comelec will also use the VIS to confirm the presence of flying voters.

“We will know if the addresses given to us by the voters when they registered are really accurate. It will help us to know if they are really residents of that locality,” he said.