TIMES asked voters about their experiences, such as ease of access to polling places, election day glitches, and delays, if there are any.
Lina Juaner, 78, a resident of Toril district here, shared that she did not experience any issues during the voting process. She was done voting at around 11 a.m.
Lins shared she chose to vote during the regular voting hours as she cannot avail the early voting hours as her residence is quite far from the polling place.
The early voting hours were intended for senior citizens, pregnant women, and persons with disability, which started from 5 a.m.- 7 a.m.
She emphasized the importance of exercising the right to vote as Filipinos, regardless of age.
“Katungod man gud na nato gud, bisan tiguwang na ta basta kaya pa, okay ra, katungod na natong mo-boto kay Pilipino man ta,” she said.
Dave Rusty Recososa, 24, shared that compared to the previous protocol in the established precincts, this year’s edition was way more complicated and took time.
“Mas dali tong dati kay karon giisa man gud nila, sauna nakalahi ang mga precincts. Karon taas kaayo ang linya, dati direct rako makasulod sa room,” Dave shared.
He added that before, the voting took less than an hour only, but for this year, it took him three hours from queuing to the voting proper. He started queuing by 8 am and was done voting at 11 am.
With the ACMs, Dave said he had no problem with the machine assigned in their precinct, as it is very transparent and accurately produced the names he voted for.
Meanwhile, this was not the case with Sister Odette, 60, of the Teresian Daughters of Mary, as she commented on the process of the ballot counting.
“Dapat kadtong gi-train ang mosulod sa among ballot sa machine, dili ihatag sa amo kay wa man mi na-train unsaon pagplastar, maong nadugay didto,” Odette said.
While she recognized the need to preserve the secrecy of the ballots, she said it would have been much better if the electoral board fed the ballots into the machines to save time.
The submission of ballots took her about five minutes, as she had to flip the paper in four different directions. In contrast, she could have finished in two minutes, including the preview of the votes.
Sister Odette called on the other voters to familiarize themselves with the candidates before shading and electing them to a certain position. “What’s the point of voting for them if you do not know them?” she added.
She can only hope the platforms of the candidates will be realized for the sake of the country, and not further self-interest.
