Guidelines for NAMFREL polling place observers

NAMFREL polling place observers

Those who will sign up as volunteers in their city/province of residence will be tasked to:

• Report for duty in a voting center (usually a school) where they are assigned by the NAMFREL chapter chairperson; the chairperson could decide to divide the observers to shifts (morning and afternoon/evening)
• Observe the different processes on election day: opening, voting, closing and counting, transmission of results, canvassing, transport of election materials and equipment. Volunteers for each shift will have a different set of election processes they could observe. The opening process could start as early as 5am. Voting will be from 6am to 7pm. Closing, counting, transmission, and canvassing, will follow starting at 7pm.
• Fill out the appropriate NAMFREL observation form when observing each process. For observers with smartphones and internet connection, the NAMFREL forms are available on Google Forms. Another option for report-sending by authorized NAMFREL observers will be through a NAMFREL app (still being finalized as of writing). The forms are also in paper form, and after filling out, observers are to take clear photos of them and send them to NAMFREL national HQ.

The duties of polling place observers will be for election day only, or until canvassing is done (for volunteers assigned to observe canvassing). After election day, the NAMFREL city/provincial chairperson could ask them to extend their volunteer work by serving in the city/provincial HQ to perform administrative tasks.

NAMFREL volunteers are required to be non-partisan. Only those who are registered voters can be assigned to observe in polling places, as required by COMELEC. If not a registered voter, the NAMFREL city/provincial chairperson can assign the volunteers to other tasks (ex. to be stationed only in the NAMFREL city/provincial HQ to coordinate with polling place observers).

Upon sign-up, the names of people who indicated that they would like to volunteer at NAMFREL’s various chapters will be passed on to the respective NAMFREL city/provincial chairpersons. They will be the one to contact / communicate with the volunteers, and assign them where they are still needed. This process could take days, so it is advised that interested individuals should sign up as early as possible. The NAMFREL city/municipal chairpersons would need to personally meet these volunteers to give a briefing, and to hand them their NAMFREL IDs and observation forms.

NAMFREL chapter volunteers will be provided meals while doing their work.

Below are the areas where there are accredited NAMFREL chapters for poll-watching:

Areas with NAMFREL Chapters for Poll Watching