THE mall voting simulation for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) held in a Cebu City mall on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023, proceeded without any issues, and an official from the Commission on Elections in Central Visayas (Comelec 7) said they are close to finalizing their preparations for the polls scheduled on Oct. 30.
Acting Central Visayas Election Director Lionel Marco Castillano said they did not encounter any major problems when they held the mall voting dry run at Robinsons Galleria Cebu in the North Reclamation Area.
During the simulation, Castillano said 50 participants from Barangay Parian trooped to Robinsons Galleria Cebu.
The Comelec 7 did not hold a dry run in SM City Consolacion in northern Cebu; however, the mall is part of the mall voting on Oct. 30.
Election and police personnel from Consolacion observed the voting simulation at Robinsons Galleria Cebu, according to Castillano.
Robinsons Galleria Cebu will host five clustered precincts (for 1,500 out of the 3,900 voters) from Parian, while SM City Consolacion will host five clustered precincts (2,415 voters) from Barangay Pitogo.
Castillano said in an earlier interview that no other malls in Central Visayas will host clustered precincts during the BSKE, adding that only two malls have been chosen by the Comelec because mall voting is still in the pilot stage.
Officials of the two malls in Cebu have signed a memorandum of agreement with the Comelec to host the clustered voting precincts.
The purpose of mall voting is to utilize available spaces other than schools as voting precincts, according to the Comelec.
The rest of the barangays in Central Visayas will conduct their voting in assigned schools.
The BSKE voter registration period took place from Dec. 12, 2022, to Jan. 31, 2023.
Comelec 7 reported on March 30 that it recorded a total of 4,585,395 registered voters across the 1,203 barangays in Cebu province. There are 40,033 clustered precincts in Cebu for the BSKE.
Castillano told SunStar Cebu on Saturday that they will be shifting their focus on the filing of certificates of candidacy from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.