Vancouver, B.C. – The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver encourages all registered Filipino overseas voters to exercise their right to vote in connection with the 2016 National Elections in the Philippines. Overseas voters can vote for one (1) President, one (1) Vice President, twelve (12) Senators and one (1) party-list organization representative.
The Certified List of Overseas Voters within the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is available at the Consulate’s website: www.vancouverpcg.org.
Please note that the Consulate General has already mailed all ballots to overseas voters within its jurisdiction, except for those who have notified the Consulate that they will vote in person in Vancouver.
Personal Voting
The Philippine Consulate General is open for personal voting every day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until May 8, 2016. It will remain open from 5:00 p.m. on May 8, 2016 until 2:00 a.m. on May 9, 2016 (5:00 p.m., Philippine time).
For assistance, particularly for those who will come to the Consulate on weekends, please call 604-653-5858 if necessary.
Postal Voting
Overseas voters who have already received their ballots by mail are reminded to follow carefully the instructions provided in accomplishing and returning their ballots to the Consulate.
The Philippine Consulate General requests postal voters to mail their accomplished ballots as soon as possible to ensure that the ballots reach the Consulate not later than May 6, 2016 (Friday). Note that postal companies do not deliver mail on weekends.
Postal Voters opting to personally cast their ballots
Overseas voters who received their ballots by mail but prefer to personally cast their ballots at the Consulate may do so during the batch-feeding of mailed ballots scheduled every Monday and Thursday, from 9:00 a.m.
As a rule, the feeding of mailed ballots into the vote-counting machines (VCMs) is performed by the Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI), in sequence and by precinct. Note that there are 33 precincts in Vancouver. Voters who wish to personally feed their mailed ballots may only do so when their respective precincts are called.
Please note that the process could take time due to the big number of ballots received daily for each of the precincts. Voters are therefore given the option to just turn in their ballots to authorized election personnel of the Consulate.
Returned-to-Sender ballots and incomplete/wrong addresses
The mailing of ballots for the following overseas voters could not be completed due to incomplete/wrong addresses, and the ballots were “returned to sender”:
The voters identified are advised to inform the Philippine Consulate General immediately of their updated or correct addresses by email at overseasvoting@vancouverpcg.org to have their ballot packets mailed to their new addresses.
Concerned voters also have the option of voting in person at the Consulate.
Postal Voters who have not yet received their ballots
As noted above, the Philippine Consulate General has already mailed ALL ballots to overseas voters within its jurisdiction, except for those who have notified the Consulate that they will vote in person in Vancouver.
Voters who did not change addresses and whose names are not included in the “returned to sender” and incomplete/wrong addresses list and have not yet received their ballots are advised to email the Consulate at overseasvoting@vancouverpcg.org.
Last day of Batch-Feeding
The last day of batch-feeding of mailed ballots will be on Sunday, May 8, 2016, from 5:00 p.m. All duly-accredited representatives (watchers) of political parties are invited to witness this, including the proceedings immediately after the closing of voting at 2:00 a.m. on May 9, 2016 (5:00 p.m., Philippine time). (Philippine Consulate website)
