OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING

FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS after Easter,
I guess I haven't really been writing my thoughts. A lot of things remained muddled in my mind. One of them is the Election Kit received by an acquaintance here in this place I now call `home.'

You see, she got a mail from the Comelec with this address:Palacio del Gobernador, Intramuros, Manila. Inside the Kit [which she showed me, she who had always relied on my opinion having no knowledge of these things, she professes]

I found the following:

*Official Ballot

*Inner Envelope [Red Print]

*OAVF No.45-Outer Envelope [Black Print]-the Voter had to provide the stamp.

*Certified List of Candidates For Senators - 37 names were listed in all.

Note: Peter AlanS.Cayetano had 2 asterisks on it, and Joselito's had 3 asterisks

*Certified List of Sectortal Parties/Organizations/Political Parties/Coalitions participating in the party-list system for the May 14,2007 elections: 93 groups were listed...

*Instructions To Voters [Voting By Mail] which was written in both English and Pilipino.


What caught my attention was that the instruction said that no mark must be left on the ballot lest it be rendered invalid.

YET.....I found the Official Ballot itself marked with luminous pink and glaring yellow droplets we often use to highlight reading materials. And there were 5 yellow ones, and one pink-reddish one. What struck me was it penetrates through the other side of the paper!

IS THIS MARK "OFFICIAL" or not?

Because if it isn't, then the Voter here is afraid her Ballot may be rendered invalid...following the instruction from the Comelec I mentioned above.

OR is this the way to make things "nice-and-easy" for the Machinery to do what it wills?

Questions remain whether Overseas Voters' Ballots were even counted in the 2004 Presidential Elections. And now, this!

Isn't it any wonder why there seems to be a "low" Overseas voters' turnout as reported in the media?

I am just wondering......