16 May 2016 - Overseas Voting for the 2016 General Elections at the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles with “personal voting” ending at 2:00 am on May 9, 2016.

As authorized by the COMELEC, Office of Overseas Voting, taking into consideration that there is no mail delivery on Saturdays and Sundays, acceptance of mailed ballots from Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona and Texas was extended to 12:00 noon of May 09 for batch feeding on the supplied vote counting machines (VCM).

Voting spiked during the last weekend of overseas voting as many Filipinos made their way to the Philippine Consulate in Korea town of Los Angeles.  According to Consulate officials, the number of voters personally appearing at the Consulate appear to have doubled in number during the last couple of days and that Los Angeles has the most number of Filipinos that personally came to vote.

“It matters not whether my candidate wins or not, the essence of overseas voting is to ensure that the voice of the Filipinos worldwide is heard and that we proudly show our commitment to democracy wherever we are,” according to LA resident Dr. Arnel Joaquin.”

Consul General Herrera-Lim thanked all the Consulate staff who performed their duties to ensure the success of overseas voting.  The Consulate opened from 8:00 A.M. of May 8 and was expected to remain open until the evening of 9 May, or over 30 hours.    He said, “I am proud of all of them.  For over four weeks, the Consulate staff delivered exemplary service to ensure the success of the voting exercise.  Many of them sacrificed their weekends and/or evenings so that they can do both their consular work and election duties. In fact, many voters told me that they admired the patience and diligence of the LA overseas voting team.” END