ILOILO City – On May 9, 2022 voters can cast their ballots between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Because the strict enforcement of pandemic health protocols is likely to slow down the voting process, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is lengthening the voting period to 13 hours.
To help hasten the voting process, registered voters must familiarize themselves with the steps on how to vote, according to Comelec Region 6 director Atty. Wilfred Jay Balisado.
In the May 2019 midterm elections, the voting hours were from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
With four more months to go before Election Day, the poll body released an eight-step guide for a safer and hassle-free election.
* Step 1: Have your temperature checked before entering the voting center.
* Step 2: Proceed to the Voters’ Assistance Desk (VAD) to secure your precinct and sequence numbers and assigned room or clustered precinct.
* Step 3: Go to your assigned room and introduce yourself to the Electoral Board by stating your name, precinct and sequence numbers.
* Step 4: Get your ballot, ballot secrecy folder and marking pen and fill-out the ballot at the voting area.
* Step 5: Accomplish the ballot by fully shading the oval appearing before the name of the candidate you wish to vote for. Do not overvote.
* Step 6: Feed the ballot into the vote counting machine.
* Step 7: Check your voter’s receipt and then deposit in the receptacle.
* Step 8: Have your right forefinger nail stained with indelible ink.
Be a responsible voter, said Balisado, by being aware and updated with Comelec advisories and announcements on Facebook, television, radio and newspaper.
“Dapat i-check mo kung ano ang nangyayari sa Comelec,” said Balisado.
For their part, said the director, Comelec municipal and city offices are prepared to enforce public health safety protocols.
Voters will be required to wear facemask and submit to body temperature check.
Balisado also made it clear that all registered voters could vote regardless of their coronavirus vaccination status.
To make vaccination a precondition to vote, the Omnibus Election Code must be amended to include such, he stressed.
Section 117 (Qualifications of a Voter) of the Code states: “Every citizen of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, 18 years of age or over, who shall have resided in the Philippines for one year and in the city or municipality wherein he proposes to vote for at least six months immediately preceding the election, may be registered as a voter.”
“The Comelec cannot impose additional qualifications. Imposing a ‘no vaccine, no vote’ policy is already amending the requirements set forth by law,” Balisado told Panay News.
Only Congress can amend laws.
Imposing COVID-19 vaccination as a requirement “or else hindi sila makaboto” is coercion of voters, said Balisado.
Only registered voters who are positive for coronavirus disease and undergoing quarantine or on isolation won’t be allowed to vote; cutting their quarantine or isolation would violate the rules of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Balisado explained.
Data from Comelec-6 showed Western Visayas having 5,026,482 registered voters – 217,643 higher than the 4,808,839 voters registered for the 2019 midterm elections.
Here’s the breakdown of registered voters:
* Aklan – 409,938
* Antique – 387,998
* Capiz – 529,079
* Guimaras – 124,076
* Iloilo – 1,628,752
* Iloilo City – 330,470
* Negros Occidental – 1,946,639
* Bacolod City – 327,403
Western Visayas has 31,536 established precincts, 8,570 clustered/grouped precincts, and 3,569 voting centers spread in 4,051 barangays./PN
