ILOILO City – Finish voting in five minutes or even less on May 9, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) urged registered voters.
The longer voters spend inside polling precincts, the greater is their risk of possible exposure to the coronavirus, explained Comelec Region 6 director Atty. Wilfred Jay Balisado.
The voting is no longer manual anyway, he added, so voters need not laboriously write the names of their chosen candidates. All they have to do now is just shade circles beside the names of their candidates.
Balisado is counting on the cooperation of voters on this “kasi nga pandemic pa tayo, nandyan pa si (coronavirus disease 2019).”
Also, he said, the longer a voter stays in the polling precinct, the longer other voters waiting outside have to wait for their turn to cast their ballots.
“Mag-shade tayo hindi naman siguro aabot nga five minutes,” said Balisado.
Voters inside the polling precincts, he said, should be mindful “na mayroong mga botante na naghihintay sa labas exposed to the elements. Mainit. Or baka may ulan. Dapat conscious tayo na may nag-aantay sa labas.”
One way to speed up voting, according to Balisado, is for voters to bring “kodigo” or list of candidates they intend to vote.
This will help them save time going over the long list of candidates that Comelec would be making available in every polling precinct, he explained.
This is particularly helpful for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs), stressed Balisado.
A family member or guardian is allowed to assist an elderly or PWD voter.
Balisado also said the elderly and PWDs should be prioritized by the board of election inspectors.
Another reason for voters to be conscious of their time in polling precincts, said Balisado, is the tedious procedure that the board of election inspectors will observe to ensure the health safety of everyone due to the pandemic.
He urged voters to follow the following procedures:
* Subject yourself for temperature check upon entry to the polling place. Voters with 37 degrees temperature or higher shall be required to rest and have their temp taken after five minutes. If the temperature is still 37 degrees, you will be ushered to the Isolation Polling Place (IPP) and will vote there.
* Wear facemask at all times and bring your own disinfectant. Face shields and vaccination cards are not required to enter a precinct and vote.
* Bring kodigo (numbers corresponding to the names of your candidates).
* Do not over vote (vote only for the number of candidates required for the office. Over voting invalidates the votes for said position only and not the whole ballot)
* Limit your stay in the precinct to vote for five minutes or less. Remember, we are still in a pandemic and we encourage voters to practice social distancing and the observance of the minimum health protocols
* Wear comfortable clothes. Take your maintenance medicines and be sure to bring drinking water to keep you hydrated (and some snacks) while waiting for your turn to vote
* After casting your vote, feed your ballot to the vote-counting machines (VCMs) and leave the precinct. Do not take a photo of your ballot which tend to show your vote.
* Along the way, keep your patience.
Balisado stressed the importance of being patient on Election Day.
“Alam naman natin especially during early voting hours talagang madaming tao, ma-overwhelm ‘yong mga guro natin. Ang pila might be long already before the start of the voting. So we should keep our patience,” said Balisado.
Voting is from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For the 2022 elections, Region 6 has 5,026,482 registered voters – up 217,643 from the 2019 midterm elections’ 4,808,839 registered voters. Here’s the breakdown:
* 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
Region 6 has 31,536 established voting precincts, 8,570 clustered/grouped precincts and 3,569 voting centers./PN
