ILOILO – A voter has one chance only to cast his ballot so he better do it correctly this May 9, 2022 elections, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here.
Only one ballot will be given to a voter, stressed Comelec-Iloilo Election Officer III Alice Bernadette Naranjo.
“One is to one lang ang ihatag nga balota. If a voter has erroneously filled it out, indi na kami maghatag another ballot so dapat careful gid,” said Naranjo.
She also said if the voter, intentionally or unintentionally, tampers the ballot’s security marks or features, the whole ballot will be invalidated.
“We have security marks sa aton nga ballot — these should not be tampered, otherwise ma-compromise kay ma-invalidate, ma-misread sang machine. So indi dapat ma-hit sang marking pens kay sayang ang balota,” said Naranjo.
As part of the voters’ education campaign, Comelec-Iloilo and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) demonstrated the voting process using a Voting Counting Machine (VCM) on Tuesday.
According to Naranjo, Comelec will require all voters to bring their own ballpen on election day which will be used when they fix their signatures. However, in shading the ballots, Comelec’s special marking pens will be used.
Naranjo advised voters that when shading the small circle adjacent to their chosen candidate, it must be 100 percent filled to ensure that the vote is counted by the machine.
“More than 50 percent shading will also be counted but to be sure i-shade gid ang bilog,” said Naranjo.
When inserting the ballot to the VCM, use the secrecy folder.
After the ballot is processed, a receipt will come out from the machine; this can be checked by the voter.
The receipt, however, cannot be taken home; the Board of Election Inspector will put this inside a receipt receptacle.
Naranjo also emphasized that it is better to “under vote” than to “over vote”.
“When over voting, automatic invalidated ang vote mo for a particular position only nga nag-over vote ka,” said Naranjo.
She added that voters who are incapacitated or need help when voting can be guided by their family member or the BEI.
Naranjo emphasized the importance of Comelec’s voter’s education campaign especially for first-time voters. But she lamented that because of the coronavirus pandemic, they have limited deployment in the field.
Nevertheless, according to Comelec-Iloilo Provincial Election Officer Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria, they are conducting “road shows” – election officers go around the province and conduct voter’s education./PN
