Dear Reader, pardon me if I stray off the beaten path somewhat. After all, it is All Souls’ Day and the mist-enshrouded dirt road that runs past the boneyard beckons. Nothing too drastic, but certainly a departure from sobriety would not be out of place today. So why don’t you go ahead and read this in your best  Vincent Price voice? I am certainly writing it in mine.—James

ONE of the most passed around stories about Election Day is how the names of the dearly departed keep showing up on the lists of voters. Two questions immediately arise: Why is this a problem? And why does it happen?

Having the names of the departed on the list of voters is a problem because it bloats the number of voters in that city or municipality, thus making it easier to hide traces of wholesale fraud, such as vote padding and vote shaving. Small-scale fraud, on the other hand, is made easier because the dead on the list are also assigned ballots, which can either be given to flying voters or later be used to stuff ballot boxes with. Of course, I must mention that among younger voters there is a fear that the dead might literally come to vote. In that zombie apocalyse, no one would move a muscle as the dead come home.

Seriously, however, concerns of electoral fraud being facilitated by an inaccurate list of voters  are real enough but they are not adequately addressed by the use of biometrics for registration. Unfortunately, biometrics don’t work against the dead. For that, you need garlic and wooden stakes. No. Wait. That is for fighting the un-dead.

Seriously now—for real this time—the next question is why does this happen? Why are the names of the deceased still on the list of voters? The answer is that Comelec doesn’t track that sort of thing. In order for a deceased person to be de-listed, someone has to tell Comelec and prove the fact of death.

Normally, this information is provided to Comelec regularly by the local civil registrar. It is a straightforward arrangement except that the local civil registrar only handles records of births and deaths that occur within his jurisdiction. So, if a man  born in Manila dies also in Manila, the fact of his arrival and departure, as it were, would be recorded in Manila as well. Unfortunately, if he died somewhere else, say Cebu, his death would be recorded primarily in Cebu. Thus, if our unfortunate hero were a registered voter in Manila, how would the civil registrar there know to report the fact of his death to the local Comelec office, and vice versa. On Election Day, his relatives come to vote and see his name on the list.

Compounding the situation is the fact that there are some places in the Philippines where death certificates are not very regularly issued—sometimes because predominant religious practices in the area call for burial within 24 hours. In these places, knowing which names to remove from  the list can get even more difficult.

To eliminate, or at least minimize, the incidence of voters looking at the lists and saying “I see dead people,” everyone has to pitch in. So for future reference, although I sincerely wish none of you ever have reason to do this, if someone you know passes on, please inform Commission on Elections (Comelec) so that the proper corrections can be made to the lists of voters. Bringing a copy of the death certificate would be very helpful.

 If death certificates are needed to get out of the voters list, birth certificates are sometimes needed to get on the list. Although, as a general rule, the only documentary requirement for registration is a valid ID, election officers may require other documents. He may ask for a birth certificate when the age of the person applying for registration cannot be conclusively determined from the valid ID he presents, or if the election officer entertains doubts as to the accuracy of the age being claimed. In the same vein, if there is any doubt as to the applicant’s address, proof of billing is required.

Even though these are exceptional requirements, some election officers—definitely not all, or even the majority—tend to just lump them with the actual valid ID requirement. Not an altogether bad thing, but it is frustrating to the citizen who brings what he thinks is required only to be asked to produce something else. So, while Comelec offices continue informing citizens that the ID is the only real requirement, we are now also alerting them that they may be asked to present either a birth certificate, or a billing statement, or both.

Vincent Price talks funny.

James Jimenez blogs at http://james-jimenez.com and tweets as @jab-jimenez on Twitter.