ILOILO City – It’s all systems go for today’s national and local elections, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Western Visayas.
In case of technical glitches, Comelec has a standby 105 vote-counting machines (VCMs) ready for deployment.
A total of 8,570 VCMs will be used in 8,570 clustered precincts across Region 6 today, said Comelec regional director Atty. Wilfred Jay Balisado.
Voting starts at 6 a.m. and will end at 7 p.m.
During the final testing and sealing of VCMs on Saturday, 48 were found to be defective.
“Now all the 8,570 VCMs are working. Nagamit natin ang 48 extra VCMs to replace sa mga sira during the (final testing and sealing). Meron pa tayong 105 spare VCMs. Now, it’s all systems go,” Balisado told Panay News on Sunday afternoon.
What should the Electoral Board do in case the VCM assigned to their precinct malfunctions?
Balisado said the protocol is for the Electoral Board to alert Comelec and wait until the replacement VCM arrives. Only then can the voting resume
In case there are no more spare VCMs available to replace the one that malfunctioned, voting should still continue but sans the feeding of the ballots.
Then when the voting closes at 7 p.m., the Electoral Board should feed the ballots to the reconfigured VCM of its nearest polling precinct, said Balosado.
As for the SD cards of VMCs, if these malfunction, the standby technicians of the Department of Science and Technology and Department of Information and Communications Technology on standby at the Comelec-provincial office would respond.
Balisado urged voters to vote early and not wait for the last minute to show up at polling precincts.
He reiterated the procedures for a faster and smoother voting process:
* Subject yourself to temperature check upon entry to the polling place. Voters with 37 degrees temperature or higher shall be required to rest and have their temperature 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 (list of candidates to vote).
* 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.
There are 5,026,482 registered voters in Region 6.
“Hopefully our voters will find time to set aside commitments during election day para maka-exercise talaga sila ng right to vote and be able to participate sa nation-building natin through the election of proper leaders,” said Balisado.
The 5,026,482 registered voters are in the following areas:
* 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
