Voter Education Initiatives in the Philippines: An Exploratory Research on the Effects of COMELEC-conducted Voter Education Seminars on the Political Attitudes of the Youth Voter-Attendees

Abstract

Voter education seminars (VES) by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) aim to empower the youth by giving quality information about elections and voting, addressing declining political participation, voter apathy, and political cynicism. Despite its implementation, the effects of VES remain unexamined. This study investigates the impacts of COMELEC-conducted VES on the political attitudes of youth voter-attendees, analyzing the dimensions identified by Sindermann et al. (2021) and Weinschenk et al. (2021). These indicators include political orientation/ideology, voting intentions, voting attitudes, and online political participation. Guided by the Informed Social Engagement Model (ISEM), the study employs semi-structured in-depth interviews with Metro Manila-based respondents who attended VES and participated in voting. Findings reveal that VES had minimal impact on youth’s political attitudes. It deepened the participants’ understanding of voting and participation yet, their voting preferences aligned with their political ideology, were already anchored in firm beliefs. Furthermore, attendees expressed desire for broader discussion of online political engagement. The respondents recognized the insufficiency when it comes to the preparation, delivery, and approach. The researchers concluded that COMELEC-funded voter education seminars have a lot of room for more improvement for it to be considered impactful based on the influence that they would have imposed on the youthvoter attendees and their political attitudes.