“DON’T OVERVOTE and lose your right to vote”, this was the answer of Atty. Jose Nick Mendros, regional director of the Commission on Elections, to a question of what will happen to the people’s votes if they chose more than the required number of candidates for certain positions, and if it wasn’t tantamount to disenfranchisement if it none will be counted.
Mendros, together with a team of Comelec officers, were in the city this Saturday, January 30, to lead an information dissemination and actual demonstration on how the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) works, as the country gears for its first ever automated polls on May, this year. The activity was jointly sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ormoc and the Occidental Leyte Bar Association (OLBA), in cooperation with some entities, and held at the Ormoc Superdome. It was noted, however, that despite the topic being “hot” these days, the turnout was dismal.
Anna Louise Bumagat, Rotary Club of Ormoc president, said that they decided to sponsor the activity because of a Social Weather Station survey that showed 61 percent of the populace have little or no knowledge about the oncoming automated polls.
Mendros, who explained that in case a voter shades more than the required number of candidates for certain positions, his votes for that particular sector would be lost. A more concrete example he illustrated is when a voter shades more than 12 circles for senators, all would be invalidated as the PCOS machines are not capable of discerning which senator is the real choice of the voter.
The Comelec director also disagreed with the observation that it was tantamount to disenfranchising the voter, saying “he had been given the chance to vote”.
Mendros also cautioned against erasures, saying that these might render the ballots invalid. He said that voters on May 10 should be ready with the list of whom they will vote for, to ensure there would be no mistakes. “Voters are allowed to bring their own lists”, he said, “as long as they prepare it themselves”.
The scenario of each voter bringing his own “sample ballot” as recommended by party leaders is nil, it was also learned, because the ballot is 30 inches long. Printing of copycat sample ballots will be very expensive, and bulky.
The Comelec director and his team also shared important tips on how to vote on May 10. He said that the voter should first look for his name on the posted computerized voter’s list, then jot down the sequence number. In the precinct, the voters should then tell the Board of Election Inspectors his sequence number to expedite looking for it on the voter’s register and wait for his turn to vote.
Mendros also added that unlike before, where “extra ballots” were available for those whose names might have been accidentally omitted, there will be no extra ballots this time. The ratio, he said, is “one is to one”. Each precinct will be given the exact number of ballots as its registered number of voters.
Hence, he said, voters should be careful in writing their choices or against dirtying their ballots, lest it be rejected. The voters, which will “feed” their ballots to the machines themselves, has a second chance to “re-feed” it, in case the first is rejected. However, after the second try, there is no third try.
He added that to ensure their names are included on May 10, voters should start checking on the local Comelec office on February 12, where the final list will be posted.
In the case of Ormoc, it was learned, there will be 161 PCOS machines. In the whole region, some 5,322 machines will be provided, aside from portable discs for areas that do not have stable satellite signals. In urban centers, the results will be transmitted through broadband.
Mendros also added that they have already thought out “worst case scenarios”. In case a machine is defective, he said, there are spare machines which will be immediately dispatched.
The BEI, on the other hand, will undergo a two day seminar on how to operate the machine, and test their understanding of it. The Department of Science and Technology, on the second day, will administer the exam which will determine whether the teacher understood its operation and was IT capable. If they fail, they will not serve as BEI.
A teacher, meanwhile, expressed joy at hearing this, saying she can deliberately flunk the exam to skirt serving this election. She said that lot of teachers disliked serving in elections because they always bore the brunt of irate politicians and their leaders, aside from experiencing delayed honorarium. The amount is not worth their effort, anyway, she said.
Atty. Ever Escalon, on the other hand, a stalwart of OLBA and a known election lawyer himself, said that the scenario that teachers might deliberately flunk the exams is not farfetched. However, he said, Comelec can always hire people to do the job, aside from teachers. By Lalaine M. Jimenea and Jean Mayingque
“Don’t over vote and waste your right to vote” – Comelec
by EVMail News on February 7, 2010
