With an election around the corner, those most at risk from Covid must be given the right to cast their ballot
The May 9 national and local elections in the Philippines are just around the corner. We barely have a couple of months before the electorate go to the polls to once again exercise their right to vote.
In this third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, how accessible are the elections to vulnerable sectors of society? Despite the number of new Covid-19 cases having gone down, a development that put many provinces on Alert Level 1 (the least restrictive status), the risk of another surge is not a remote possibility. Cases significantly went down last November but started to rise again during the Christmas holidays.
Can we imagine elderly people, vulnerable to the virus, braving the crowds of voters in a pandemic? In the 2019 midterm elections, only 3 percent of the more than eight million elderly voters cast their ballots.
The Coalition for the Elderly has estimated an increase of up to 10 million elderly voters during the upcoming May elections.
If the government looks at this matter during this pandemic, an improvement in the elderly voter turnout will be more difficult, nay impossible, to achieve.
During its third quarterly meeting with persons with disabilities in September 2021, the Commission on Human Rights stated that there were about 9,930,782 people with disabilities and a significant number of older people who were eligible to vote.
“Their voice, equal to the voices of the rest of society, should be an integral part of the sovereign will of the people in determining the country’s future”
Those with disabilities, such as the deaf, blind and physically handicapped, will experience difficulties if the government does not give special attention to them, as will heavily pregnant women.
Moreover, the right to suffrage of heavily pregnant women, who physically have limitations to be among crowds of voters on Election Day, must be equally safeguarded and upheld.
How will the government help the vulnerable fully exercise their sacred right to suffrage?
To prevent disenfranchisement, it is very important to look at these people’s distinct needs during elections to ensure that their right to vote is respected. Their voice, equal to the voices of the rest of society, should be an integral part of the sovereign will of the people in determining the country’s future.
In the conduct of clean, fair and honest elections, extra efforts must be exerted and services provided to ensure the vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalized can take part in ensuring the victory of the sovereign will of the people in the choice of their leaders.
“To make the elections accessible especially to the vulnerable, information dissemination is necessary to facilitate their knowledge of the candidates and their platforms”
Due to their physical limitations, the mobility of the vulnerable during elections necessitates paramount consideration. Thus, public transport that will bring them to polling stations is basic. Moreover, providing appropriate public buildings and infrastructure must be made accessible to respond to their needs.
People who need to assist the vulnerable must be psychologically and technically equipped with the necessary capacity and sensitivity. For deaf voters, designation of an adequate number of sign language interpreters and providing them photos of candidates are necessary for them to be able to make informed choices. Assistance to blind voters in locating their precincts and providing them with helping devices are basic requirements. Their distinct needs, which include the availability of braille ballots, must be provided. Respect of the secrecy of the ballots is equally important.
To make the elections accessible especially to the vulnerable, information dissemination is necessary to facilitate their knowledge of the candidates and their platforms. Voting procedures must be explained weeks beforehand.
Cooperation between pertinent government agencies and non-government organizations is important for the provision of necessary services and assistance to these voters. Doing so necessitates the allocation of adequate resources.
Unprecedented in Philippine history, against the landscape of the pandemic, millions of people will flock to polling stations on Election Day — a situation which, if not controlled, can result in another surge of Covid cases. Observance of health protocols must be strictly observed to guarantee that the health of the elderly and other voters is not compromised.
“The bedridden, unvaccinated, feeble older people obviously have special needs during elections that must be given special attention”
The bedridden, unvaccinated, feeble older people obviously have special needs during elections that must be given special attention.
International treaties complemented by the fundamental law of the land serve as the very foundations of the government’s legal and moral responsibility to ensure the accessibility of elections to everyone.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides the right to vote to everyone without discrimination. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability elaborates this right and obliges states to take on the responsibility to guarantee these people’s full enjoyment of the right to participate in public life such as the right to vote.
The 2007 constitution provides that those who have the right to vote are Filipino citizens, who are not disqualified by law, not below 18 years old and have resided in the Philippines for at least a year and have residence of at least six months prior to the election. Article V invokes the right of suffrage and the voters’ corresponding qualifications, the provision of a system for securing the secrecy and the sanctity of the ballot and absentee voting for Filipinos abroad and the procedure for the disabled and illiterates to vote without assistance.
The Philippines is rich in laws that provide the equal right to suffrage to the vulnerable, including the Republic Act No. 10366 which mandates that the disabled and senior citizens can exercise their right to political participation without discrimination or restrictions.
In the context of the pandemic, it is most imperative to provide special attention to the vulnerable, whose right to vote is as sacred as every other voter’s, yet whose physical limitations need the government’s full support.
The votes of society’s vulnerable equally matter. As former US president Barack Obama once said: “There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter. It all matters.”
* The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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