Device glitch mars 2nd day of absentee voting in Hong Kong

A poll automation machine glitch marred the second day of the overseas automated polls in Hong Kong, stalling voting at a precinct for an hour, a Commission on Elections official said on Sunday. "The PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machine [malfunctioned] because of moisture, but it was fixed promptly. It took an hour," Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in a phone interview. The machine reportedly jammed and rejected ballots. Meanwhile, Larrazabal added that voting in Hong Kong continued smoothly, but turnout was low. "It’s not as many as we expected, but it’s just the first weekend. Maybe in the coming days, more people will cast their votes," he added. Absentee voting in Hong Kong and Singapore kicked off last Saturday with a low turnout. The Foreign Affairs department said about 1,000 registered Filipino voters in Hong Kong went to the Kennedy Town Center to vote, while only 200 of the 31,851 registered voters in Singapore voted at the Philippine Embassy. Aside from the automated polls in Singapore and Hong Kong, manual absentee voting in the Philippines’ 93 embassies and consulates around the world also started last Saturday, when Filipinos overseas started choosing their President, Vice-President, senators and party-list. Overseas absentee voting will end on May 10, when voters in the Philippines vote for both national and local posts down to city and municipal councilors.

Clueless Meanwhile, some Filipino workers in Jeddah did not know that absentee voting for national and party-list posts had started. David Daileg of Tarlac, a family driver for 15 years, went to the Philippine Consulate on Saturday before 8 a.m. to renew his passport. He ended up voting instead, and was the first to do so in Jeddah. "I was supposed to renew my passport but I voted instead so I could help change the system in the Philippines," he said in Filipino. Absentee voting started on April 10 and will last for a month. Workmates Rommel Calingasan and Eddie Capili also arrived at the consulate to renew their passports. They were surprised to see the voting being conducted, since they thought absentee voting would only be held in Hong Kong and Singapore. A woman approached GMANews.TV to ask why there were so many people at the consulate. She, too, was surprised upon learning the election had begun. Like Daileg, she wasted no time voting. Apart from some who were unaware of the exercise, others could not find their names on the list. Dario Vinas could not find his name on the master list of Precinct 10, but was able to vote after later spotting his name under Precinct 9. These hitches aside, the first day of the absentee voting went smoothly. Among the first to vote were staff members of the consulate, as well as Jeddah Consul General Ezzedin Tago. Tago said they were pleased with the orderly flow of people coming in to vote. Poll watchers of presidential candidate and evangelist Eddie Villanueva were also present. Workers from Altayar Plastic Company arrived in a group to vote. The company allowed them to use its service vehicle so they could save on transportation costs worth 60 riyals or about P720. Tago said at least 180 Filipino workers voted on Saturday. He expects more people to come in on Thursday and Friday, when workers are usually on a day off. Filipino workers abroad have until May 10 to vote. — Sophia M. Dedace, Ronaldo Z. Concha and Carmela G. Lapeña/NPA, GMANews.TV