Today is the day Filipino people are heading to the polling booths to cast their votes for President, Vice President, 12 Senators, Congressman, Mayor, Vice Mayor, 6 Councilmen and a PartyList Representative. Voting Booths open at 7am but Patrick and I went at 830AM. We wanted to get it done early to avoid the rush and the heat in the afternoon.
So, we headed to Moises Salvador Elementary School, which was where I voted last time. When we got to the gate I knew, it was closed and Patrick said it's probably the school next door so we went there. When we looked for our precinct number on the list, it wasn't there. So, we asked at the Voter's Assistance Desk and we were so silly, there was another gate at Moises Salvador! It was closed because the school was undergoing some construction.
We followed the rest of the public who were headed in the same direction. At the school, we looked for our precinct number so we know which room we needed to head to.
We then headed to it. There was quite a number of people around already. Some were going to vote, others are done.
I had no problem finding my name on the list when we got to the room since I had voted in the previous elections. Since Patrick was voting in this precinct for the first time and he just reactivated his voting privileges, we couldn't locate his name at first and he had to confirm with COMELEC at the front of the school. But upon re-checking the list, his name was there. We just overlooked it, our brains weren't working this early in the morning haha. So, that was a relief.
Picture taking isn't allowed inside the polling room so I didn't take pictures :) The procedure was fast though.
- An assistant will write down your name, gender, number on the list and precinct number on a piece of paper.
- You will bring this with you into the room for verification.
- Once verified, you will proceed to the next table where you will sign on the COMELEC registered voters' list (I don't know what you actually call it). The list actually shows the digitized photo they took of you when the Biometrics update happened. This is a great security feature to avoid flying voters.
- Next, the Board of Elections Officer will hand you your ballot covered in a folder and a marker with the express reminder to mark your votes gently to avoid punching a hole through the ballot. Apparently, some people press too hard or hold the marker too long on their ballots that they end up punching a hole in them.
- After you've marked your choices on the ballot, you take it to the desk to personally run it through the machine. I did it! I think I overheard the person in charge say that the machine will capture everything regardless of how you insert the ballot (whether front first or back first).
- Then, you wait for the machine to spit out your receipt which you check to make sure that the votes that you cast are reflected correctly. The receipt will show you a printed list of your choices for the respective positions. Mine showed my own personal choices, so no problem there.
- You will then give back the receipt to them and watch them put in a container. You're Done!
Going out of the school after voting feels good. It's even better because there are so many food stalls around the school. There are vendors selling corn, buko juice, gulaman, corn on a cob, mangoes and other fruits, cookies, donuts and many other street foods. We bought mangoes, corn, taho and cookies :)
The street was getting crowded as people are beginning to flock to the schools. I think plenty are excited to make their voices heard! Mabuhay Philippines!
