Filipino election commission wants biometric voter law

With local and national elections anticipated in 2013, the Philippine Commission on Elections is ramping up its biometrics registration efforts through lobbying.

The Commission is requesting that the Philippine House of Representatives fast track the approval of a bill that requires all qualified voters to undergo biometrics registration.

Commission chair Sixto Brillantes said: “There’s a need for a law requiring the mandatory biometrics capture of all registered voters to really allow for a thorough cleansing of the national voters’ registry.”

There are 52 million registered voters, but only nine million have yet submitted biometric profiles. The Commission maintains that biometrics registration helps to curb election fraud and multiple voter registrations.

House Bill 3469, introduced by Rep. Susan Yap, requires all registered voters to have their biometrics captured, but the bill is still before Congress.

The bill requires citizens to appear before election officials at their place of original registration to have their photograph, fingerprints and signatures recorded.

Will the use of biometrics in voting ensure a clean, honest and fair election in the Philippines?

Article Topics

biometrics  |  civil ID  |  elections  |  facial recognition  |  fingerprints  |  government  |  government purchasing  |  privacy