Law Summary
Definitions
- Commission: Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
- Persons with Disabilities: Qualified voters with long-term impairments affecting electoral participation.
- Senior Citizens: Qualified voters aged 60 or older.
- Electoral Processes: Activities like registration, candidacy, campaign, voter education, and voting.
- Assistance: Support for meaningful participation in elections.
- Disability-based Discrimination: Any exclusion restricting equal exercise of rights due to disability.
- Universal Design: Products/services usable by all without modification, including assistive devices.
- Satellite Registration: Voter registration in satellite offices.
- Special Registration: Registration for first-time PWD and senior citizen registrants outside regular jurisdiction.
- Accessible Polling Place: Ground floor polling venues without physical barriers, near entrances, with assistive services.
Right to Participation in Electoral Processes
- Guarantee appropriate, accessible voting procedures and facilities.
- Protection of the right to vote by secret ballot without intimidation.
- Allowance for assistance by a person of their choice during voting.
Duty of the Commission to Render Assistance
- The Commission must provide appropriate assistance to PWDs and senior citizens in coordination with relevant agencies and organizations.
Record of Persons with Disabilities and Senior Citizens
- Maintain updated voter records indicating disability type and needed assistance.
- Records accessible to government, civil society, and advocacy organizations with privacy safeguards.
Registration and Updating of Records
- Registration forms must allow indication of disability and assistance required.
- Previously registered voters may update records during application periods.
- The Commission may design special forms and procedures for updating.
Assistance in Accomplishment of Application Form
- PWDs or senior citizens unable to complete registration forms may be assisted by election officers, accredited groups, relatives within the fourth civil degree, or trusted household members.
Satellite and Special Registration
- Coordinated effort for registration of PWDs and senior citizens in accessible locations by COMELEC and related organizations.
Creation of Precincts for PWDs and Senior Citizens
- Authorization to establish non-territorial precincts exclusively for PWDs and senior citizens opting for such precincts.
- At least one such precinct per voting center with assistive devices and expert assistance.
Ballot Design
- Ballots must be reasonably accommodated for PWDs and senior citizens to enable independent ballot completion.
Assistance in Accomplishment of the Ballot
- Illiterate or physically incapacitated voters may be assisted by relatives within the fourth civil degree, trusted household members, or BEI members.
- Usual assistants (caregivers, nurses) considered household members.
- Assistors must be of voting age and must swear an oath to follow the voter’s instructions and maintain ballot secrecy.
- No assistor except BEI members may assist more than three times.
- Violation constitutes an election offense under the Omnibus Election Code.
Sensitivity Training Program
- COMELEC, in coordination with NCDA, CHR, and advocacy groups, shall conduct sensitivity training for electoral officers and accredited citizen arms to familiarize them with PWD and senior citizen needs.
Information Materials
- Electoral information must be appropriate and accessible to PWDs and senior citizens.
Appropriations
- Initial funding charged against current appropriations or available COMELEC savings.
- Subsequent funding included in General Appropriations Act.
Implementing Rules and Regulations
- COMELEC to promulgate implementing rules within 60 days from effectivity.
Separability Clause
- Invalidity of any provision does not affect the remaining provisions' validity.
Repealing Clause
- Laws, decrees, orders, or regulations inconsistent with this Act are repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.
Effectivity Clause
- The Act takes effect July 1, 2013, after publication in two newspapers of general circulation.