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| Let me start the barrage of selfies with dirty fingers. Para sa bayan, Para sa sambayanang Pilipino, at para tapos na. |
I was done voting in a record-breaking 10 minutes.
I wanted it to be over as quickly (and as painlessly) as possible. I took more time deciding who I wanted to vote for rather than the actual voting process. I think that's a good thing?
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| The night before election day, I was only sure about 1 person that I was going to vote for. |
On May 9, election day, here's what happened in a span of 10 minutes or so.
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| I forgot my list at home so I tried to re-create it in the car. |
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| I arrived at our village gym to vote at 6:15am. So quiet. |
Step #1
I had to find my name in the long lists on the board. I think this was the precinct number?
One volunteer filled up a small form with my name, precinct number, and whatnot.
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| Took me quite a while. Ang liliit ng font! |
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| Finally found my name somewhere there. |
One volunteer filled up a small form with my name, precinct number, and whatnot.
Step #2
I gave that small form to this station. Another volunteer searched her list for my voter information, which I had to sign off on. I saw my photo taken years ago when I applied for a Voters' ID (which I still don't have). Ang bata ko pa!
I gave that small form to this station. Another volunteer searched her list for my voter information, which I had to sign off on. I saw my photo taken years ago when I applied for a Voters' ID (which I still don't have). Ang bata ko pa!
A ballot was then given to me.
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| At this point, I was reprimanded and was told that I wasn't allowed to take photos anymore. Oops! Sorry. |
Step #3
I filled up my ballot with the help of my re-created list. Checked it twice.
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| What the ballot looked like. It was back-to-back. |
Step #4
I had to line up to submit my ballot.
I felt nervous feeding my ballot to the PCOS machine. What if it wouldn't get accepted? What if something went wrong? Would I be cheated?
Thankfully, all went well.
Step #5
The PCOS machine read my ballot and gave me a receipt. I checked to make sure that the people I voted for were there. The receipt was placed inside a black box for safekeeping.
Indelible ink was placed on my finger. I chose the left index finger. Voila!
I'm fortunate that we were able to vote in our village. It was quiet, cool, and extremely stress-free. I hope other precincts had it that way, too.