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| This vote counting machine, one of two shipped by Comelec to Hong Kong and delivered on Apr 28 to the Bayanihan, will act as a reserve just in case another one breaks down. Election officials are also planning to use it to conduct the election for Filipino seafarers on board vessels calling Hong Kong. |
Two new vote counting machines arrived at the Bayanihan
Center today, Apr 28, restoring the full complement of 10 VCMs that will handle
the expected heavy turnout of voters on the last 11 days of the 2016 Philippine
general elections.
The machines were delivered in the morning before the
precincts opened, giving the election staff time to install in Room 501, where
the previous VCM broke down on Apr 23, leaving only nine in operation.
“All 10 precincts now have VCMs, so, voting should hopefully
be smooth on the remaining days of the elections,” said Vice Consul Fatima
Quintin, the officer-of-the-day at the polling center.
One VCM-related problem was reported today, with a female
voter politely calling the attention of the special board of election
inspectors in one precinct to some missing names from the creased printout of
her ballot receipt.
The voter did not make a fuss and, instead, offered to write
down her statement about the glitch on a pro forma complaint sheet that the
election board made available at the voting precincts since Monday.
“The voter was very civil; she told us she would write down
her complaint instead of seeking a media interview to publicize what happened,”
Quintin said.
She said the woman even promised to tell her friends and
other voters that the proper thing to do if they encounter similar problems at
the polls is to make a formal complaint.
That was the second formal complaint against an alleged
malfunction of the vote counting machines filed by a voter since the complaint
form was introduced.
Quintin said with each of the 10 voting precincts now having
its vote counting machine, , election officials could pursue plans to visit ships
on Hong Kong port calls and let their Filipino crew cast their votes aboard the
vessels.
“With the spare VCM, we should now be able to conduct voting
aboard ships during the week once we get a firm schedule from our shipping
industry contacts,” said Quintin.
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| Latecomers try to beat the 5pm closing of the polling precincts on Apr 28. |
The plan was mentioned last week by election officials as a
novelty to capture some of 49,000 registered voters among the nearly
half-million Filipino seafarers deployed on ocean-going vessels.
The voter turnout today improved to 502, increasing the
total tally for the first 20 days of the overseas voting in Hong Kong to
25,130, or 27% of the 93,000 registered voters from the estimated 203,000
Filipinos in the city.
With only 11 days remaining in the 31-day balloting that
will culminate on May 9, election officials expect the turnout to reach 45-50%
given the propensity of some people to wait until the final day to cast their
votes.
Only about five people failed to vote today because they had
either been deactivated for not voting in the two previous national elections,
or their names were missing from the voters list even though they registered at
the consulate last year .
