A 1953 Philippine registration notice signed NAMFREL

An English-language voter notice distributed in the Philippines in 1953 and filed with U.S. Information Agency posters for Asia. Under the slogan "Crooked politicians are elected by honest people who don't vote!" it lists registration days, election day (10 November 1953) and what to do if refused. Signed NAMFREL (NAID 5730044).

What the sheet prints

Most of the page is instructions. A hand-lettered slogan sits on top. Below it a typed notice in three numbered parts tells the reader when to register, how to check that a name is on the precinct list, whom to go to if the local board refuses, and what to do after moving house. It closes with a reminder and a signature.

Crooked Politicians Are Elected By Honest People Who Don't Vote !

I. Have You Already Registered to Vote ? If not, remember these dates: Registration dates: Saturday, September 26, 1953 / Saturday, October 3, 1953 / Time: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ELECTION DAY: Tuesday, November 10, 1953

[...] If the board refuses, apply to the Justice of the Peace of the capital, or the Judge of First Instance of your province, or to the Commission on Elections to have your name included in the registration list. Do this immediately.

Remember--You have to register if you want to VOTE ! NAMFREL

Who issued it

The name on the sheet is NAMFREL. The National Archives holds it in Record Group 306, in the U.S. Information Agency series of propaganda posters distributed in Asia (series NAID 1767935), with a catalog date of 30 July 1953. The record does not say how the American agency and NAMFREL divided the work. FRAME classes the source as blurred; the American role is not on the face of the sheet.

How to read it

The slogan is a jab, and FRAME tags it plain folks and glittering generalities. The rest of the page is the opposite of propaganda in the loose sense: dates, offices, steps, and an appeal route if an official refuses to list a voter. It names no party and no candidate.

That appeal route is the part to admire. A citizen turned away at the precinct is told to go over the board's head to a judge or an election commission. Due process at the ballot box is exactly what a free people should teach each other. The fair criticism is narrower: when a foreign government helps circulate election material, the voters it reaches are entitled to know that, even when the material is nonpartisan. Related 1953 sheets in the archive urge voters not to sell their vote.