Online overseas voting 2.0

The 2025 midterm elections marked a historical milestone as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) implemented for the first time online voting for overseas Filipinos. The initiative was meant to enhance voter participation among some 11 million Filipinos living abroad, and address such longstanding challenges as logistical hurdles and cost, as well as low turnout rates.

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia had expressed optimism about the online voting system and its potential to increase voter participation by offering a more accessible and secure voting method. Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, a proponent of online voting, lauded the initiative for providing migrant Filipinos a fast and convenient means of exercising their right of suffrage.

However, four days after the close of the 30-day voting period for registered Filipino overseas voters using the new online voting system, the Comelec reported a very low 18.12 percent voter turnout rate. That translates to 221,284 voters out of an expected 1.22 million registered overseas voters. It needs to be pointed out that 77 embassies and consulates general used the online voting system, while the remaining 16 used the old method of postal or personal voting, since some countries didn’t approve the use of local internet services for overseas elections.

For the latter foreign service establishments, the turnout was higher at 32.43 percent. All in all, total overseas voter turnout for both modes of voting was around 18.36 percent, slightly lower than the previous 2019 voter turnout of 18.47 percent.

Given that the adoption of innovative technology was meant to make overseas voting more accessible and convenient for overseas Filipinos, thereby driving up voter turnout rate, the lower turnout rate compared to the previous midterm election is a poor result. Various media reports also noted that implementation faced several challenges: difficulties in the preenrollment process, concerns over accessing the platform, delays in the interface, and allegations of a lack of transparency with regard to verifying if votes were accurately cast.

These issues have led to calls for investigations, with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III filing a resolution calling for a legislative inquiry into the legality and implementation of internet voting and citing glitches such as missing vote confirmations and inaccessible platforms.

Similarly, Kabayan party list Rep. Ron Salo expressed serious concern over reports of discrepancies encountered by overseas voters, and called on the poll body to investigate and address these problems promptly. Overseas Filipino communities also highlighted a lack of awareness and timely information dissemination about the online voting process and expressed fears of potential disenfranchisement due to insufficient voter education.

The initial promotional video on online voting that I saw was released in October 2024, and merely informed our overseas communities that online voting was going to take place. There was hardly any detail about the process or how to use the system, with the information on that released in February, just two months before the elections. This relatively short period to inform overseas voters is a likely key factor for the low turnout.

Garcia has raised a valid point about the need to amend the automated election laws that requires the technical evaluation committee to certify the automated election system at least three months before election day. This requirement does not realistically take into account the long process needed to certify the technology, he noted.

Historically, this three-month deadline has not been followed. Even with the previous provider Smartmatic, the certification was issued only days before the election. For the 2025 election, the certification was issued only on May 5, just a week before election day.

Whatever factors and reasons have led to this outcome, it is without a doubt quite disappointing, given the low turnout. While some may question the need to continue using the system given the concerns raised, I believe it is still worth giving it another chance. Whenever new technology is deployed, there are always bugs and glitches. This is why user feedback is valuable, as it allows developers to tweak and improve the system, in the same way we do regular updates on our personal gadgets’ operating systems.

Let’s hope that Comelec takes these voters’ feedback and lessons to heart to make sure that online voting system 2.0 is improved in time for the next elections in 2028, where the stakes are much higher.

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Moira G. Gallaga served 3 Philippine presidents as presidential protocol officer, and was posted as a diplomat at the Philippine Consulate General in LA and the Philippine Embassy in Washington.