Election Canvassing: Explaining the Rules

Screengrab from CNN Philippines’ website.

CHEERS TO CNN Philippines and Rappler for reporting the rules of the canvassing by Congress of the votes for president and vice president as the legislature began its count on Wednesday, May 25.

CNNPhilippines.com posted “Rules of Canvassing: How does Congress do the official count of votes for president and vice president?” (May 25), while Rappler.com had “2016 canvassing of votes for president, VP: The basics” (May 26). Both reports reported on both the people involved in the canvassing and the process. Held in the plenary hall of the House of Representatives, the canvassing of votes must take place within 30 days after the elections.

Both pieces reported that the Senate and House of Representatives are represented by seven members each in the joint canvassing committee which shall count the votes. They also explained the canvassing process, which involves comparing the printed Certificates of Canvass (COCs) with the electronically transmitted ones.

The articles also discussed the procedures should there be discrepancies between these COCs. Based on the “Rules of the Joint Public Session of Congress for the Canvassing of the votes for the Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates,” the Provincial/City/District Boards of Canvassers must personally appear before the committee within 24 hours and to provide an explanation for the discrepancy. For discrepancies in Overseas Absentee Voting COCs, the joint committee shall require the Special Boards of Canvassers to appear and provide details.

The Rappler report named the key figures that have to be present during the canvassing: aside from the presiding officers of the joint public session, the election lawyers of each candidate (two registered attorneys) must be in the venue. The report also provided a list of the senators and representatives who will be part of the canvassing committee.