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Despite floods, power outages and a rash of violent
incidents in Mindanao, an information campaign targeting voters in
the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is in full-swing,
the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Saturday.
“The Comelec is determined to
educate the people on the rudiments of automated balloting,” the
Comelec spokesman, Director James Jimenez, said in a statement. The
August 11 elections in the autonomous region will adopt automated
voting.
Jimenez added that the Comelec
has been receiving strong support from providers of the systems to
be used in the poll automation and from its citizens’ arms.
A citizens’ arm, the Citizens
Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms Inc., said it welcomes the
information drive being undertaken by the poll body and
Smartmatic-Sahi.
“We are optimistic that the
voters’ education on poll automation will reach in due time the
electorate in ARMM,” said Salic Ibrahim, chairman of Citizens CARE
and Regional Coordinating Council for the elections.
Citizens CARE was a participant
in the province-wide electoral stakeholders’ forum and launching
of the voters’ education drive in Maguindanao held last week.
Smartmatic-Sahi is the poll
body’s technology provider for the ARMM polls.
--Anthony Vargas
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