See the timestamps of the photos to know how long it took me to finish voting.
Precinct No: 0164A – Bolbok Elementary School, Batangas City
- The early birds, ready to vote!
I have the same precinct number/room as my mother. As I’ve mentioned here, we are 5 voters in my family. My two younger sisters are of the same room as well while my father is on a different one. We arrived at the school at around 7:00AM.
- Almost 30 minutes waiting
- More voters are getting impatient
- Still waiting…
How does automated election worked here in our place? First, you get a numbered paper, fill it up with your name and voter’s number then wait for your name to be called. Mine is 78 and mom’s 64. They told us that it would be a batch of 20 per roll call. Unfortunately, when they were on the second batch, more and more people came in blocking the hallway. They then decided to disregard the number and just let the people in, randomly. I was outraged but I keep it to myself since we’re almost close to the doorsteps. Therefore, with or without number, I know that me and my mom will enter the classroom next.
- Few steps from the precinct entrance
But hell, we stood there for more than an hour not to mention that the people around us kept struggling to make their way to the front line. Imagine the inconvenience of discomfort of being in an overcrowded place.
- Election Helpdesk
Tic-tac-tic-tac and the line stood still. Voter were coming out of the room but no one was allowed to enter.
- Still outside the precinct
- An Unofficial Bouncer without Biceps
- What’s happening inside?
Yes, I’m just one step away but the line wasn’t moving so I had to bear with the extreme heat, my unvoiced frustration and the undisciplined voters. Well, I understand where they’re coming from because the assigned officials did not start it right. And when one of them ordered the crowd to move back, they remained still. The entire crowd hated them. Who won’t? If they had let the early comers fall in line and vote, the system will be more orderly. And I hate these crowd even more especially when they start pushing us toward the watchers and other officials in the front door. It was extremely excruciating to fall in line, rather, to be with these anger-driven people. Bodies kept bumping and squeezing with each other. And what made me jerk a little is that whoever b@stard who literally {squeezed|pinched|gripped|grasped} my ass! Oh gosh, and when I looked back, there I saw a man whom I wish was not the one who did it. Ewww. In heat, eh? Goodness, I know I’m hot but the situation did not call for it. Made me hot-tempered even more!
Finally I was inside so I took a photo of those by the door:
- My mom (in blue) and the other voters
- I’m the next in line…
- My turn! Finally!
And now I knew why it was taking that long. There were only two personnel working on the master ist of voters, and just like in other areas, the ratio is 1:5 – 1 room is to five precincts since there was only one PCOS machine allotted for certain number of voters. Anyway, I got seated as soon as they handed my official ballot and started shading the circles.
- Official Ballot, Page 1
- Official Ballot, Page 2
Whoah! Seen my votes? NP. It’s OK. As if it will change the result.
- They’re getting more organized inside
- On my way to PCOS machine
- And finally I was out of that room…
After 3 hours, we’re finally home.
- Just voted!
And that’s my memorable disgusting experience for this automated voting system.
- Automated Voting System
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hi liz! same tayo ng president and vice. hehe. masyado palang magulo sa inyo. samin medyo ok lang naman. started and finished early. it so happened lang siguro na mostly magkakakilala ang nasa pila namin kaya walang singitan. and walang magulo. some of my friends had almost the same experience as you. i hope it gets better next time. and more PCOS machines please!!! ^_^
Korek. More PCOS machines. Hehe. Yeah, di lang naman pala smen yung 3 hours or so. Grabe lang. Haha. 2nd time ko na kasi to magvote. First time was when I was 19 and masasabi ko na super better nung dati. Haha. Pagdating vote then tapos. Di ganito.
hi liz! same tayo ng experience. sa amin nga, what used to be 20+ precincts naging 6 lang ngaun, so literally, no movement sa linya! hehe waited 3 hours to get a vote. Dapat kung sino man yung nagtouch sayo, tinerminate mo yun or inoblivion ring! haha.. Korek! there should have been more machines but the methods are promising and I beleive it would be better next time.. ^_^
boto mo ipatrol mo! wow nakapadaming abubut ang ginawa grabe! pero un iba knti lang ung pila..sayang mag18 palang me kaya ndi me nkavote
LOL. I was like, wtf?!?! Kung ordinary day un baka nasaksak ko ng balisong. Pero lam mo un, mas nangingibabaw inis ko sa buong pangyayari at hindi sa isang un lang. Amfness talaga.
first time ko to vote din was when i was 19. hala magka-age pala tayo! haha. yea, it was hassle-free before. kaya lang prone to cheating eh. i guess if we don’t want to be cheated then we should sacrifice 3 to 4 hours of our time? haha. ok na rin.
hi liz, ganyan pala ang automated voting system nu. Ang haba nang pila judging by your pics. My bro told me, he saw my name there, kaso wala ako eh. Lima sana kami ang maka-vote, hehehe. It must be a stressful moment for you. I thought it’s computerized like how it works here. Sayang naman, never in my whole life na naka-vote ako dyan sa atin.
What a great resource!
wow, you were very conscientious in documenting your voting experience. all the way, merong pics, hehehe.
by the way, i thought cellphones/videos are not allowed in precincts? may nabasa ako somewhere eh, di ko lang matandaan kung saan.
anyway, about the comment that you left in my post, i’m also not counting on it that my site will be restored because it’s almost two months already since it was disabled. the only wrong that I saw with my blog was the presence of too many unrelated links kasi nga i was into paid reviews and usually, may mga links akong nilalagay. oh well…
Bawal nga daw. Sabi ko pinapatrol ko boto ko at pamamalakad nyo. La na sila say. Yung blog ko naman in-post ung links para nga sa paid posts. Ni hindi nga yun link farm eh. Basta. Niwordpress ko na lahat ng blogs ko. Hehe. Ay, may isa pa pala.