Automated polls marred by lack of voting time, absence of plan to manage lines

(Updated 9:06 p.m.) The Philippines’ first automated elections were marred by the lack of time allotted for the voting process and an absence of a common plan to manage the queues. This was how the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) described the glitches that marred the first nationwide automated elections on Monday as it gave the Commission on Elections (Comelec) a rating of 4 to 5. At a press conference, lawyer Roan Libarios said the number one setback in the elections was the lack of time allocated for the voting process and common plan to manage the queues. "It could have been addressed before the launching of these elections," he said. The long lines caused self disenfranchisement because the long lines and slow process turned off voters, he said. "Yung mga voters napagod na maghintay, nagutom na sa linya kaya umuwi na," he said, citing the reports they received from their 3,000 members mostly lawyers and paralegals all over the country. (Voters got tired of waiting so they became hungry while in line and later went home.) Libarios said it seemed that the voters were excited to vote but the system did not live up to expectations. "Mahaba ang pila, mabagal ang pagboto dahil na rin sa malfunction ng PCOS kaya tumagal ang voting procedure," he said. (The lines were long and the voting process was slow because of malfunctioning PCOS machines that prolonged the process.) Lawyer Carlos Medina said the disenfranchisement of voters is a cause for alarm especially because of the big number of candidates. "This is one of our major concerns if this is the situation all over the country as indicated on the reports we received from the field," he said. "Every vote counts most especially now. Possibly we will have a minority president so disenfranchised voters can spell the difference between a winning and a losing candidate," he added. Lawyer Tomas Prado, another Lente member, expressed hope that the Comelec would not only learn from the mistakes but would also be able to remedy it. "Despite the glitches there is no reason to immediately drop the system. One by one we will be able to eliminate the ills of the elections," he said. Lente said poll violence and vote-buying have been attitudinal and "no machine can cure that". After the voting, Lente's next move is to safeguard the counting process, which it said is the more critical process, by verifying the poll result through a copy of the election return entitled to them as a Comelec-accredited citizens' arm. The Comelec promulgated on May 10 a resolution giving Lente authority to get the 29th copy of the ER. Lente will be conducting the validation of poll results with its partner National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel). - RJAB Jr/KBK, GMANews.TV