KNOW your precinct, prepare your kodigo.
Cebu City election officer for the south district Edwin Cadungog urged voters to do this before they go to their voting centers on Monday.
Knowing your precinct number and having a list of the candidates you want to vote for will save time and help conserve energy, both on the part of the voters and the board of election inspectors (BEIs), Cadungog said.
He said that if voters already know where their precinct is, overcrowding outside polling places will be minimized and will help make the elections orderly.
Since the website of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was hacked and could not generate the voters’ precinct numbers, voters may go to their local Comelec office to ask for it.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting has promised to put up and online precinct finder this week on ppcrv.org.
Cluster numbers
“Before going to the voting centers, as much as possible, they should already know their precinct number and the cluster number so by the time they reach the polling places on Monday, they can give the details to the BEI chairman and all the teacher has to do is locate the sequence the number. She won’t have to open all the book of voters to look for your name, it will save time,” the poll officer said.
Up to 800 persons will vote in clustered precincts in Cebu City on Monday.
Registered
Rogelio Singson, a registered voter of Barangay Guadalupe, is among those who asked for his precinct number at the Comelec Cebu City south district office yesterday.
He said having his precinct, cluster and sequence numbers will make voting on Monday convenient.
“It’s for our own convenience. When we get there (voting center), dire-diretso na ta og vote,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Saving time
Another way to save time is to have a list of the candidates you want to vote for, which a candidate can bring inside the polling place. Sample ballots can also serve as a list or guide when voting.
“Bringing a kodigo is allowed. Sample ballots are allowed, it can also be used as kodigo. As long as it could lessen the time it will take to vote, we don’t have a problem with that. A kodigo will help because daghan ra ba kaayo tag botaran and sometimes you cannot rely on your memory, especially the seniors,” said Cadungog.
While bringing sample ballots inside the polling places is allowed, taking a photo of the ballot and the voters’ receipt is not.
Cadungog said that doing so constitutes an election offense, which is punishable with imprisonment of one to six years without probation. Violators will also be perpetually disqualified to holding public office and lose their right to suffrage.