SEVERAL Dabawenyo voters were “disenfranchised” during the national and local elections on Monday, May 9, 2022, according to Davao City-based watchdog group Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) Blue Vote.
AdDU Blue Vote received reports of malfunctioning vote-counting machines (VCM) and missing names during election day on May 9, 2022. Some voters were not able to cast their votes.
Based on the update, as of 5 p.m. on May 9, there were reports of 10 defective VCMs and 200 missing names in Davao City.
AdDU Blue Vote Director Ramon Beleno III said during an interview at the Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School voting center, some VCMs reported to be malfunctioning were prone to paper jams and that the ballots could not be fed correctly into the machine.
Beleno said some of the VCMs were already glitching even during the final testing and sealing on May 5, a few days before Election Day.
“Siguro nandoon sa design nung rating ballots ngayon, mas malapad kasi siya so kailangan talagang tamang-tama lang, at the same time napakahaba. so minsan, pag pasok niyo sa ballot box, hindi talaga siya nag didiretso,” Beleno said.
There were also reported problems related to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) voters’ list such as 200 missing names, 31 deactivated voting statuses, and two deceased voters but were still on the list.
Beleno said the missing names reported were either due to skipping the previous elections or were just plain missing from the master list. He added that the voting center in Catalunan Pequeño had the most cases of missing names.
“Pero yung trend kasi, siguro mas marami (missing) kasi mas marami na rin yung botante ngayon,” he said. “Ang duda namin baka nalipat lang rin sila ng polling center or ng barangay.”
AdDU Blue Vote also received reports of three persons who were unaware of their transfer to another precinct.
Although the problems were identified, Beleno said the glitches during the election could not be resolved by them since it was up to Comelec to address the issues. “It's actually with Comelec. And kung sinasabi ng comelec kung wala talaga yung pangalan mo, hindi ka talaga makakaboto,” he said.
On the other hand, Comelec-Davao assistant regional director lawyer Gay Enumerables said during an interview with SunStar Davao on May 9, “Ubay-ubay pud ang mga nasira na VCM machines but then gipangkamutan namo nga ma-replace or ma-repair dayon para mabalik sa presinto ang mga machines.”
She said malfunctioning VCMS were repaired immediately by Smartmatic technicians. “Dalaon diri sa among opisina diri sa regional hub, ayuson gyod na siya (VCM). Ang uban ginahulat gani and dali pud nila makuha balik.”
However, Beleno said many voters were still disenfranchised and were not able to vote due to these issues.
“These are things na learning lesson that we have to address sa susunod na election pero sa ngayon, sad to say, wala tayong magagawa. Meron talagang mga na-di-disenfranchise na mga botante,” Beleno said.
As one of the election watchdogs in Davao City, AdDU Blue Vote is consolidating the reports to be submitted to Comelec.