To avoid election-day confusion and detect ghosts
Post voters list in barangay halls ahead of polls Recto

As important in disclosing the names of party-list nominees is the posting of voters list in barangay halls ahead of the May 14 polls, a move, Sen. Ralph Recto said, which would avoid election-day confusion caused by voters not knowing where their precincts are.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. If we dont want election day to be a merry-go-round ride for voters, then let us tell them where to go in advance, he said.

Posting the voters list in public, Recto added, is also one way of helping the community find out who the ghost voters are in their midst.

It takes a village to catch a ghost (voter), he said.

Recto urged the Commission on Elections to post what he described as the computerized voters list in halls of barangays where voting centers, usually schools, are located.

Local governments, Church groups, including political parties, should assist the Comelec post the voters list. The Comelecs hands are full right now preparing for the elections so it would need help in this endeavor.

To its credit, the poll body has been mailing to registered voters a voters information sheet containing the names of candidates in their locality and the precinct and polling place of the voter, Recto said.

But it is safe to assume that not everybody has gotten this letter, so the next option is to post the voters list in the nearest government office, which in this case is the barangay hall, Recto said.

About 45 million voters will troop to 310,000 precincts on May 14 to vote for 12 senators; two representatives in the House; and provincial, city and town officials. There are 41,972 barangays in the country today.