General News
After false start, farmer finds it โeasyโ to vote
By Doris C. Bongcac Cebu Daily News
IT took more than 10 minutes for two senior citizens in barangay Mabini, Cebu City to fill up their ballots.
Loreto Jayme, 84, and Rodolfo Alfante, 65, said their blurred vision and the small printed names in the ballot slowed them down. But they said they found the new format easier than handwriting the names of all candidates.
โMas sayon man ang pagbotar karon kay dali ra kaayo kumpara sa una (It's easier to vote now because it's simpler than the procedure before), said Jayme, a farmer who has been voting since he was 19 years old.
Both men said they would remember to bring a guide list of candidates or kodigo in the May 10 election so the don't have to think on the spot.
It took Jayme 12 minutes to complete the ballot but when he stepped forward to feed the paper ballot into the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS), the machine rejected it two times.
The reason: he failed to properly shade the ovals in the pre-filled ballot. The empty space has to be filled by at least 50 percent for the PCOS to read it properly. Jayme was asked to re-shade his list of choices.
On the third try, his ballot was accepted by the machine.
Alfante, 65 years old, had his ballot successfully scanned on the first try. It took him 16 minutes to shade the ballot. He said he was slow and careful in shading the ovals because of his blurred vision.
Jayme was the first to enter the polling precinct in the mountain barangay of Mabini at 8 a.m. and get hold of a ballot. He was the fourth to finish.
Senior citizens were the first to be accommodated in the classroom.
Jayme had to ask the help of another voter to open the cap of the marker pen provided by Smartmatic for voters to use.
While walking to the school that morning, the farmer said he was a bit apprehensive.
โNaghunahuna ko nga basin maglisod ko ani, pero sayon ra man diay (I was worried that I'd have a difficult time, but it turned out to be easy.)
He said the hard part was going over the list of names of candidates printed in small font type. He said his vision started to blur when he kept staring at the list of names.
Sample ballots had names of past presidents, Philippine heroes and singing groups as candidates.
If a voter has trouble reading the ballot, he can ask for help, said Lionel Castillano, Cebu provincial election supervisor to Jayme.
Poll clerks in the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) are authorized to declare voters as โdisabledโ so they can ask the help of a relative to assist him, he said.
A voter can bring a โkodigoโ to the polling area to speed up the process. What is illegal is the โdistributionโ of sample ballots on election day, said the Comelec official.
With this, Tinago barangay captain Joel Garganera said the Comission on Elections should look into the concern of elderly voters.
He said voters should also be reminded that the the list of local candidates are printed on the back side of the ballot. Names of national candidates appear on the front.
Garganera was one of the 50 persons selected to join the mock elections in barangay Mabini. Another 50 persons โvotedโ in the urban barangay of Bulacao, Cebu City.
Additional Information
Country: Philippines
Website: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20100207-251738/After-false-start-farmer-finds-it-easy-to-vote
Email: N/A
Phone: N/A
Contact Person: N/A
Source: Email from: MORI, Soya
When: 15/2/2010
