Twitter to launch new emoji, personalized election results card for May 9 polls

To help voters get the most out of Election Day, Twitter is launching a new #BumotoAko emoji, #SumbongKo reporting hashtag and #HalalanResults personalized election results card to help Filipinos participate in the election conversation on the final day.

Available only on May 9th, the new Twitter emoji reflects a key element of Election Day: the inked finger. The indelible ink on the forefinger of the right hand serves as a visual deterrent to electoral fraud, but it also serves as a visual symbol of democracy. Coming out of the voting booth, many Filipinos will take a selfie to show off their inked finger and Tweet it to the world as a proud expression of their democratic right to vote. By including #BumotoAko or #PHVote hashtags in their Tweets, people will see an inked finger emoji after the hashtag to add some fun and Pinoy Pride on Twitter.

On the other hand, people who are concerned about voting fraud on Election Day can report any unusual election activities, violations and irregularities via Twitter, too. By including a photo or video and using the #SumbongKo hashtag in their Tweets, @COMELEC will monitor and respond to their Tweets in a timely fashion. 

Finally, after the voting centers have closed on Election Day, people can use Twitter to be among the first to know the election results. By sending a Tweet with #HalalanResults hashtag to @ABSCBNNews account, Twitter users will receive back a personalized card that shows the latest vote counts for Presidential, Vice Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representative (Party-List) seats. The data will be directly sourced from the COMELEC Transparency Server and the latest vote count will depend on how quickly COMELEC updates the server.

“Twitter is the first place to go for political-related conversations throughout the #PiliPinas2016 campaign period, so there’s no doubt that Filipinos will flock to Twitter to express themselves on Election Day as well as get live updates on election activities and voting results, too,” says Twitter Head for Media Partnerships in Southeast Asia, Pratiksha Rao. “The live conversations and reaction on Twitter for Election Day will be amazing and we can’t wait to see what happens when the Philippines goes to the polls in the first-ever #TwitterElection.”