Its been a few days since the Philippines has finally entered the world of automating polls and comments have been made here and there. Some says its a success despite the many failures the automation has encountered as the fast counting has proved it. Some says, it is a big failure because even if it has made the counting faster, many voters were unable to cast their votes.
To make things a bit clearer, let us go back to the date(May 10,2010). Polling precints opened as early as 7am although only very few were able to start off with the voting process since many PCOS machines issued by SMARTMATIC have failed to start due to defects in the compact flash cards. Another ugly thing that COMELEC has done is the clustering of precints which made the lines for casting of vote longer(Are they trying to save on the cost of PCOS machines?). This action brought more congestion of people since more people will vote on a single precint. This congestion of people made finding of one's name harder as you have to shove and push your way just to see the printed names posted right outside the classroom-turned polling precint (This list should have been posted near the school gates to avoid crowding of the voting area). Minutes of waiting dragged on to hours, amidst the intense heat of the sun and rain on some other areas and the stench of sweat from the congestion of the voting public, and still some machines are not working. When you finally get your turn to vote you'll find yourself in a very humid atmosphere,where in some areas the ballot secrecy folder seems to have lost its value(you can see clearly whose names the other voters are shading). One has to be very careful not to blot the other side of the ballot paper otherwise the machine won't read it (COMELEC should have printed the ballots on a better paper). The time needed for the casting of votes have lengthened so much that many voters went home disgruntled and frustrated for waiting and not being able to vote.And of course the usual (supposedly an unusuality) vote-buying schemes have been reported widely across the nation coupled with many reports of minors who are registered as voters(WHAT? and many people of legal age has lost their names on the printed voter's list?) Where on earth would you find an exercise of rights for the people of legal age be participated by minors who votes for politicians who gave them a few pesos for their illegal votes. Generally, the electoral process went through to the rest of the country except for some municipalities where armed violence has thwarted the supposedly peaceful election.
After hours of frustration and anxiety, the counting has finally started and accelerated at a fast pace(faster than most people has anticipated). It seemed that the frustration brought about by the near-chaotic electoral process was slowly receding and the focus of the voting and non-voting public shifted from ranting into waiting for the every now and then updates of the election tally. One good thing perhaps that the automation has brought to us is the early feedback of who's winning or losing. This allowed politicians to accept their defeat gracefully as there is little to question in terms of the poll results. As of today, the official canvassing for some places are still on-going, with the presidential and vice-presidential results still to be officially canvassed by the senate and congress. Still the answer of the question of this post reside to every individual as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. As for me, I could still say that it was a fair success although there is still a very big room for improvement. I am looking forward for the next automated election, which hopefully would be smoother running and the one in which I could personally participate.
After hours of frustration and anxiety, the counting has finally started and accelerated at a fast pace(faster than most people has anticipated). It seemed that the frustration brought about by the near-chaotic electoral process was slowly receding and the focus of the voting and non-voting public shifted from ranting into waiting for the every now and then updates of the election tally. One good thing perhaps that the automation has brought to us is the early feedback of who's winning or losing. This allowed politicians to accept their defeat gracefully as there is little to question in terms of the poll results. As of today, the official canvassing for some places are still on-going, with the presidential and vice-presidential results still to be officially canvassed by the senate and congress. Still the answer of the question of this post reside to every individual as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. As for me, I could still say that it was a fair success although there is still a very big room for improvement. I am looking forward for the next automated election, which hopefully would be smoother running and the one in which I could personally participate.
