Victorina: Register and Vote!
by: Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig

Many years from now, when we talk about Elections 2010 over coffee or pitchers of beer, we are likely to reminisce about how it changed the trajectory of Philippine history. We have become conscious of the fact that the leaders that we choose are crucial to the very survival of our beleaguered nation. We have become cognizant of the value of safe-guarding our ballots.

During an recent event in Taguig City, 13 prospective candidates walked arm in arm and pledged to uphold clean and honest elections next year. The candidates avowed before the Commission on Elections Chair Jose Melo and signed a sworn statement enumerating 13 points to ensure clean elections and good government.

“I will not use any form of cheating … I will not use money for nefarious ends or use arms or any form of violence to ensure my win in the elections,” the sworn statement said in Filipino.

The statement added “I will honor and follow the ‘Rule of Law, I will try to be an example of honesty and urge my relatives and friends to follow my example … I will not use the national treasury or whatever property of the Philippines for my own personal interests.”

Chairman Jose Melo added that “this is for the elections so that everybody will follow the rules. That it will be conducted in a very civil and gentlemanly manner, observing all the rules.”

Who exactly is at stake?

Last 2004, there was projected voting population of 49.25 million persons. The figure below represents about 60 percent of the projected 82.67 million Philippine population for 2004. The female voting population numbers a little more than the expected male voters with a sex ratio of 98.89 males for every 100 females. There are more male voters in the younger age groups 20 to 24 and 25 to 29 years old while female voters dominate the older age groupings 50 years old and over according to a study made by Carmelita Nuguid. Ericta.

“Of the 49 million projected voters for 2004, about two thirds (66%) or 33 million have completed some elementary or high school education; 15 percent are college undergraduates; and only 7 percent are college degree holders. In addition, there are about 1.6 million voters who have no education,” adds Ericta. The projected voting population literacy rate was observed at 92 percent or 45.5 million literate voters out of 49.2 million voters for 2004.

With this optimistic numbers of eager and literate voters, Victorina is anxious to help educate voters and safeguard our democratic electoral process!

Blogger RJ Marmol of adayinthelifeofrj.com made a list on how To Vote Using PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) Machine in the 2010 Automated Elections:

1. Before leaving the house, write down your complete list of preferred candidates on a piece of paper so that you can use it as guide when voting in the precinct later. It’s perfectly okay and actually highly recommended that you bring a list of your chosen candidates specially if you have unreliable memory that suddenly hangs-up shortly before it’s your turn to vote. This will also make you vote faster. They call this the "ZERO COUNT" ballot check (or something like that). This is printed prior to voting to ensure there are no pre-installed or pre-recorded info inside. A high-grade thermal paper will be used, expected to last 5 years on optimal condition.

2. Arrive at your designated precinct at least an hour earlier than scheduled to give you leeway in case you need to look for your name longer than usual. Remember that because we have limited PCOS machines, some precincts will have up to four times the usual number of registered voters. The usual 250 or so per precinct will go as high as 1,000.

3. Bring the registration stub portion given to you when you registered for the elections. Your precinct number is written on that stub.

4. Check in with the Board of Elections Inspectors (BEI) and secure an empty ballot, ask for a marker as well.

5. Using the marker given to you by the BEI, shade the circles corresponding to your chosen candidates . Make sure to shade it completely. Do this until you’ve shaded all that you want to vote on.

6. There are portions of the ballot where you will be asked for more than one choice, so make sure you read the instructions carefully (instructions are in Filipino). Avoid writing anything outside the circle or anywhere else on the ballot. While SMARTMATIC-TIM claims that anything written outside the circles will be disregarded by the machine, better not to do this just for the heck of it.

7. Remember, it’s okay to undervote (to choose less names than what is asked, ie. voting less than 12 senators), but you are never allowed to overvote. If you overvote, the entire section where the overvoting was committed will be disregarded. It will result to a spoiled section in a valid ballot. For example, voting 13 senators instead of 12 will spoil all your answers in the senatorial posts section, but all other remaining sections on the ballot, if shaded properly, will be counted as good votes.

8. After shading, feed the ballot paper to the PCOS machine and allow the machine to eat it up, should there be wrong orientations (bottom first or upside down) the PCOS should be able to detect it.

9. Your ballot paper will be checked for shading intensity (every PCOS machine can be programmed in terms of shading intensity settings, I have yet to find out the specifics on this one, whether there will be a standard setting for all precincts or whether it may vary from precinct to precinct — but of course, by default, it should be standardized). If it passes the test, then it will fall inside the ballot box and a “Thank you for voting” prompt/message will appear on the touch screen.”

10. Let the BEI officers put ink/tint on your index finger.

11. There you have it, you’ve just participated in the much-awaited automated elections — the first of its scale in the world! You’re now part of this historic event! (Give yourself a pat on the back and flash a wide smile of confidence and hope! :) This is the AUDIT LOG's header. It is printed once the voting is finished/precincts are closed. All actions done on that specific PCOS machine with that specific serial number are logged and printed on that receipt. Once again, it ensures that system would be tamper-proof or if such tampering happens, that it will be detected through the report.

This is the main body of the same audit log.

12. If you have online access, remain vigilant by guarding your votes. Log on to the public domain site that COMELEC will put-up prior to elections