The Elections – 2 Days After

Our country just went through one historic election – we’re going digital! Instead of waiting for days before realizing the real front runner in the elections, names started to pop-out after 24 hours. What’s even impressive is that online results are available. Check out http://electionresults.comelec.gov.ph/ and you’ll be taken to a site where you can see the results of your precinct! I was really blown away by the technology.

Unfortunately, there are some missteps the COMELEC made in the election. I thought about it for two days and have made these conclusions:

• COMELEC relied too much on technology – 1,000 voters per precinct is not and will never be a good idea. The voting process is still relatively slow to deal with 1000 voters. Even if the precinct will start at exactly 7am, it will still have a hard time dealing with the rush of voters. Because they relied too much on technology these things happened:

o Too many lines
o Confusion on the voter’s side
o Less support from the BEI
o It’s just too damn hot!

• The ballot voting is flawed – I read in the instructions that the PCOS will only disregard your votes for that particular group if you vote for one candidate more than allowed. For example, you voted for 13 senators instead of 12 so the PCOS machine will disregard your vote for senators but will count the others. Unfortunately, this is not true.
• It’s still a vote buying process – no candidate is saying about this but everyone knows that vote buying is already a “black tradition” in our country. Many people use their voter’s ID to accept money from the candidate. It’s sickening to hear those who claim they “earned” during the elections but I have to respect their decision if their thinking process is based on what they can earn. After all, that’s also the thinking of most of our politicians.

It’s a great day to be a Filipino. I just wish COMELEC will allow more PCOS machine the next election.