File photo shows 0verseas voting registrants await their turn to vote at the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, California. (INQUIRER.net PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said that a company and three joint ventures have submitted their bid for an online voting and counting system (OVCS) to be used in overseas voting in the 2025 midterm elections.
The election body also announced, online or internet voting will be the primary mode of casting votes for Filipinos abroad in next year’s polls, except in areas with internet connectivity issues.
The following submitted bids for the OVCS on April 2:
- Indra Soluciones Technologias de la Information, SLU;
- Joint venture of SMS Global Technologies, Inc. and Sequent Tech, Inc.;
- Joint venture of Voatz, Inc., EPLDT, Inc., and Ebizolution , Inc.; and
- Joint venture of AMA group, Dasan, and Kevoting.
Tuesday’s bidding is Comelec’s second attempt at netting bidders for the P465.8 million project since it declared a failure of bidding on February 21.
Following the poll body’s first bidding, two companies, Indra Soluciones Technologias de la Information and We Are IT Philippines Inc., were declared “ineligible” due to several reasons, including failure to submit certain documents.
Internet voting
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia previously said that online or internet voting would be used overseas during the 2025 midterm elections in a bid to increase voter turnout overseas.
“For the first time in our history, we will have internet voting. They (Filipinos overseas) can vote using only their devices. And so, in our opinion, there is no longer any justification for them not to register,” he said.
This model is in addition to the two ways of voting currently implemented for Filipino voters abroad, which are in-person voting and voting by mail.
Internet voting, however, would not be available in 17 countries due to internet restrictions.
Also on Tuesday, Comelec listed the countries or posts wherein voting will still be conducted in-person and by mail:
Asia Pacific
- Beijing Philippine Embassy (PE) in China;
- Chongqing Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in China
- Guangzhou PCG in China
- Shanghai PCG in China
- Xiamen PCG in China
- Dili PE in Timor-Leste
- Port Moresby PE in Papua New Guinea
- Yangon PE in Myanmar
Europe
- Ankara PE in Turkiye
- Istanbul PCG in Turkiye
- Moscow PE in Russia
Middle East and Africa
- Abuja PE in Nigeria
- Amman PE in Jordan
- Beirut PE in Lebanon
- Damascus PE in Syria
- Tehran PE in Iran
- Tripoli PE in Libya
“As you can see, Tel Aviv PE (Israel) is not included in the list as internet restrictions no longer apply to internet voting. However, due to the prevailing situation there, various modes of voting are being considered,” Comelec spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco said in a message to reporters.
According to Garcia, only 1.697 million Filipinos registered to vote in the past election and thaty only 40.59 percent actually voted despite the Comelec sinking some P500 million into 2022’s registration campaign.