My Automated Election Experience

I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t have to elbow my way to the voting precinct (at Moonwalk 1, Paranaque City). Sure, I queued; I had to deal with the heat and humidity, but I still believe I had it easier than most.

In my place, Moonwalk 1, Paranaque, 20 precincts were grouped into 4 clusters. I was on cluster 301. Most of us, if not all, didn’t have to look for our names and precinct numbers on election day itself, because those were posted on a bulletin board outside our church (the Holy Eucharist Parish), three weeks before. And I’m guessing, everyone was accounted for because I didn’t hear complaints of missing names.

Our queues were made more bearable by the narra and mango trees, too. Talk about the benefit of being green.

Overall, my first automated election experience was OK. No technical glitches, no ballot snatching or spoiled ballots, no missing names, no missing precincts, no fights, no arguments, no loudmouths, no violence. I had to line up for 2.5 hours because I went there at the peak hours. But after I voted, there was no more line outside the gym, and few people were there waiting to vote. In fact, in the afternoon, the gym, which served as the voting area for the 20 precincts, was pretty much deserted, save for the PPCRV, BEI, Comelec people, and other observers like us.

As an observer, the system in my place needs improvement, but this is our first so I forgive them. If only we were not so worried about the sensitive ballots and the allegedly not ready PCOS machines, we would have devoted more time on people-space-volume-time management. Especially that Comelec, albeit late, announced that with or without PCOS machine, voting must go on, the voting should not be so dependent on the PCOS machines.

But this is all in retrospect. I am sure in the next elections we will do better.

Now, as I write, we await for the results. My candidates are not doing well in the partial, unofficial results, but I’m happy that I cast my vote, and exercised my right as a Filipino.

Whoever wins, I remain to be a good citizen. My fervent prayer is that we give the new government a chance.

Here are some of the photos I took earlier.

On to 2010 Philippine Elections

The 2010 Philippine election won’t be like the previous elections. For one, it is going to be automated. So the preparations are steeped with controversy every step along the way. We all heard about what happened in the registration. It was all messed up. New voters lined up as early as 4am only to take Step 1 of the registration process at 8 in the evening.

This caught the ire of many, and one newspaper columnist, Andy Bautista, even offered his observation that we are so focused on preventing a failure of election, but never on a failure of registration. True!

So are we ready?

I posted a quick guide to the automated elections. But do we know the new ballot? Today, let me share it with you.

Images courtesy of Blog Watch hosted by Philippine Online Chronicles via Jane.

It’s going to be like taking a test. You bring a pencil and shade your choice of answer. The quick guide link I shared above is very helpful in figuring out this new ballot.

We don’t need to bring a list. All we have to bring is the patience to read through the page and find our candidates.