By VERLIE Q. RETULIN
THE mock election conducted at Tenement Elementary School in Barangay Western Bicutan, Taguig on Saturday would have started on time because majority of the ‘voters’ were present when the polling precinct opened at 7:30 a.m..
Tenement Elementary School was one of the 40 schools nationwide selected to hold the mock elections for the May 9 polls. (See Vote-counting machines to be tested in 40 barangays Feb. 13)
But none of those who arrived to vote belonged to the clustered precincts selected to participate in the mock elections. Their names were not in the voters list, so they were not allowed to vote.
Those who arrived early at Tenement were street sweepers and are members of the group, Kalikasan. According to Nelly Gloria, one of its members, they received the notice two days earlier through their supervisor.
The supervisor, Dinah Cantero, brought with her the memorandum from Commission on Elections (Comelec) – Taguig and showed it to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) chair.
According to the memorandum, the barangay was tasked “to select and notify one hundred (100) voters …who shall vote in this mock election.”
It failed to specify, however, that the 100 voters should come from the clustered precincts 1126B, 1127A, 1127B and 1128A only.
Cantero said a barangay official entrusted her the job of selecting the participants. She then turned to Kalikasan which has 150 members, all coming from different areas in their barangay.
On hearing the announcement, many of the voters from Kalikasan started to leave and soon, many of the once-occupied monobloc chairs were fully vacated. Inside the precinct, the BEIs and the poll watchers awaited Comelec’s next course of action.
At 9 a.m., the remaining participants were given the go signal to enter the polling place and participate in the mock elections.
Gina Rapinan, chair of the BEI, took the names, precincts and signatures of the participants, along with their thumb marks.
More than an hour later, some of the voters belonging to the specified clustered precincts also began to show up. In order to reach the targeted number of participants on time, the BEIs also asked poll watchers and the police to cast their votes. At 12 noon, the BEI started printing and transmitting the results.
Of the 100 ballots, only one was declared invalid due to a marking made in the bar code. Incidence of under and over-voting have also been recorded.
“As a chairman this coming elections, I need to explain first dun sa mga botante kung ano dapat gagawin para hindi lahat ng boto nila ay ma-invalid (I need to explain first to the voters what they should do and how so that their votes will not be declared invalid),” Rapinan said.
Only 18 of those who voted were in the voter’s list.
Mock poll generally positive
Despite the confusion at the start, the general feedback from the BEIs, the poll watchers, and the voters themselves was positive.
“Hindi naman whole process iyong mali. Iyong machine was okay. Iyon lang info sa kanila na hindi sila dapat iyong pupunta dito. Sana hindi nila maisip na iyong proseso ang mali. Coordination lang talaga (It’s not the whole process that is faulty. The machine was okay. It was only the information that they were not supposed to come and participate. I hope they will not think of the entire process as faulty. It’s just really the coordination),” Annie Aquino of the Parish Pastoral Council on Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said.
Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia said they followed a system in selecting schools for the mock vote.
“I think may system doon. Iyong unang principle, sa isang bayan, dapat at least two para ma-testing yung transmission … iyong ability niya to consolidate two results at the same time ibabato siya sa central(I think there was a system involved. The first principle is that in a particular area, there should be at least two schools to test the transmission … and its ability to consolidate two results at the same time which it will send to the central (office),” Guia said.
Another reason that he cited was the availability and training of teachers who will serve as BEIs.
Aquino also noted that since it was a mock election, she was expecting to see how the actual elections would be conducted. Instead, what she saw was more of a tutorial. Nevertheless, she said it was okay since it was helpful in keeping people informed.
The polling precinct was crowded mostly with poll watchers, candidate representatives and Comelec officials. It lacked signages to direct people. Many of the voters stayed inside the precinct after they had voted and waited for others to finish.
Some voters could also be seen conversing, sometimes comparing answers. The ballot secrecy folders were not fully utilized.
The vote counting machines (VCM) had only minimal problems such as paper jam. “Pero kaunting shake-shake mo lang tapos bababa na siya (You just have to shake the machine for the next ballot to be accepted),” said Rosella Quintos, the BEI member who assisted voters.
When Aquino cast her vote, she also looked for the on-screen verification feature of the VCM since it allows voters to review their votes. She found out later, however, that it was disabled because it was thought to be time-consuming.
She added that some older voters also had a hard time shading the ballots, especially because the circles, now printed in pink, appear to be indistinct compared to when it is printed in black.
The ink of the pen used in shading the ballot may also bleed through the other side of the ballot, although it does not pose any problem, according to the Smartmatic technician present during the mock election.
