MONDAY was the first time I participated in local and national elections in decades. Okay, the first time was actually the recent barangay elections. So this is technically the second elections I participated in. So I may have to be specific. Monday was the first time I participated in a computerized poll. So I was a bit lost.
I started boycotting elections during the Marcos years. I just lost appetite in the political exercise, what with then dictator Ferdinand Marcos rigging elections every time he allowed their holding. Even when the elections were computerized and cheating was minimized, I still didn’t vote. I got lazy in registering so I could participate in the political exercise.
I won’t say why I participated in the last two elections. The reason is too personal. But it gave me a first-hand look at the process that I learned to view lightly considering the results. The flaws are disgusting, but elections are the only avenues in our democracy to reinvigorate leadership. There were the two Edsa uprisings, but actions like these can only be available under extraordinary circumstances.
I was fortunate the vote-counting machines in our polling precinct didn’t bog down during the hours that I was inside one of the Abellana National School buildings, the traditional voting area for Barangays Sambag 1 and 2, located as they are along Jones Ave. But the line before you can vote was long.
Here was how the electoral board made the wait bearable for us: the teachers wisely used two rooms. The first room was where the voting was conducted. The second room was where the line extended to and snaked. Where we should have been standing were placed chairs for us to sit on while waiting. So we talked and joked the whole time.
My wife voted in the Inayawan school and experienced one of the two machines used for the voting bog down. Obviously, the waiting was a sacrifice. She had to eat lunch late because leaving the line to eat was not an option. You don’t know when the machine gets repaired and when the voting would resume.
Computerization is the best thing that happened to our elections, I always believed in that. A few glitches here and there do not make computerized voting bad, or less preferred than manual voting. The speed with which the votes are transmitted and counted provides less chances for cheaters to manipulate the process like they were able to in the past.
I lost my eyeglasses a couple of weeks ago and so I needed to double the effort to ensure that my shading the circles would be perfect. That took a bit of my time, but not as much if I wrote the name of my preferred bets instead of just shading the circle near the name. Interestingly, my wife said that in her precinct the board of election inspectors did not allow voters to refer to sample ballots while voting. I don’t know why, but in elections like this, one needs a guide. For example, in voting for 12 senators, you surely need a prepared list. If you don’t have one, use sample ballots.
(to be continued)