From mobilizing hundreds of thousands of citizens on the ground to deploying cutting-edge mobile apps, the evolution of election monitoring tells a powerful story of civic duty matching pace with modern technology. 

Ahead of the seventh Asian Electoral Stakeholders Forum (AESF-VII) in Manila, we talked to the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL)’s National Chairperson Lito Averia about their decades of experience and a bold framework as things shift digital.

A historic legacy of volunteerism

Organized in 1983, NAMFREL launched its first election observation mission during the 1984 Batasang Pambansa elections. 

Then its role quickly expanded during one of the most defining moments in Philippine democratic history: the snap elections of February 1986. During that pivotal event, NAMFREL gathered close to 500,000 volunteers nationwide who manually collected election returns and shipped them directly to the operations headquarters at La Salle Green Hills.

Since then, the organization’s grassroots methodology has crossed international borders. 

According to NAMFREL Chairperson Averia’s, NAMFREL has deployed over a hundred volunteers to train monitors and observe elections in Indonesia during the late 1990s, alongside sending delegates to missions as far as Chile. 

Today, through its local chapters, the network continues to monitor every level of democratic exercise, regardless of whether it’s national, local, special, or barangay elections.

At the technological forefront

While traditional grassroots monitoring remains vital, the tools of the trade have drastically changed. 

Chairman Averia underscores that alongside regional neighbors like India and Indonesia, the Philippines is in the forefront of using technologies for elections.

This technological shift impacts everything from administration to how an individual exercises their fundamental rights. 

Averia points to the Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC) Registration Anywhere Program (RAP) as a prime example of systemic innovation. 

Previously, citizens working away from home had to physically travel back to their home provinces just to register to vote. 

“[Under the RAP framework], a citizen can register anywhere once the RAP program is opened by the commission… you don’t have, as a voter or as a citizen, to go to your place of residence,” shared Averia.

The dilemma of modern automation

Despite these conveniences, the automation of national and local elections since 2010 has introduced major hurdles for transparency. 

When a machine entirely replaces the manual handling of ballots, the public is effectively locked out of verifying the process in real-time. 

“We lose transparency of the count because the count of the votes is being done by the machine which is contrary to the requirement of a public count,” Averia described this as a primary drawback.

To resolve this conflict, NAMFREL’s approach has been to innovate alternative paths for citizens to oversee the machines.

NAMFREL has spent years designing civic technologies that give tracking power back to ordinary citizens. These efforts began during previous cycles with campaigns built around the core idea that any citizen can be an observer. 

Using basic mobile text messaging and SMS, individuals could instantly report precinct-level election results back to central servers.

For recent election cycles, these have evolved into digital platforms and efforts. Including NAMFREL’s app enabling citizens to simply scan or photograph built-in QR codes on official election returns, instantly transmitting verified precinct tallies to independent servers, and leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to render live election results and demographic trends dynamically onto maps. 

The modern election landscape also demands defenses against evolving digital threats. 

NAMFREL actively participates in multi-sectoral government initiatives, including COMELEC’s Task Force KKK (Katotohanan, Katapatan, at Katarungan sa Halalan; Truth, Integrity, and Justice in Elections), a dedicated mechanism focused on addressing election-related disinformation and misinformation.”

By bringing together cybersecurity experts to volunteer at monitoring centers, NAMFREL assists in actively tracking misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation as well as cyber security incidents.

‘Hybrid election system’

One of NAMFREL’s goals and recommendations to strengthen Philippine elections is a structural redesign by transitioning toward a comprehensive hybrid election system. 

Averia explained that the core philosophy focuses on reclaiming civic oversight.

“The concept of the hybrid election system is the mix of using human-in-the-loop. We’re proposing to bring back the human in the loop who will do the public counting and then the use of technology for the transmission of results and the consolidation or canvasing of the results,” said NAMFREL chairperson Averia.

By executing manual, open public counting at the precinct level, where watchers, observers, and ordinary citizens can physically see the votes tallied, and utilizing secure technology strictly for electronic transmission and canvassing, the system regains absolute public trust.

Awaiting for AESF-VII in Manila, NAMFREL views the upcoming forum as a foundational launchpad to shift the international paradigm toward citizen-led, tech-integrated monitoring. The insights shared from their local chapters aim to inspire cross-border initiatives that would strengthen independent observation throughout Asia.

The forum serves as a vital platform for dialogue and collaboration, ensuring that the future of democracy in Asia is not just free and fair, but truly independent, inclusive, and sustainable.