My Election Day Experience

It's election day once again! Filipinos take time to go to the different polling centers in the country to vote for their choice of senators, congressmen, governor, vice governor, provincial board members, mayor, vice mayor, councilors, and party list representative.

At exactly 7:15 AM, me and my brother arrived at the school where we were going to cast our vote. The school is just at the back of our compound but we had to walk for ten minutes to enter the front gate located at the main road. One half of the school's lot was donated by my great grandfather Isidro Velasquez in the old days that's the reason why we live adjacent to the school. His generosity was acknowledged by the government when a street was named after him.

There were already a lot of people at this time. We wasted no time in finding our names in the list of voters then hurriedly proceeded to our assigned precinct. Once there, we were told to get inside a jam-packed room where we waited for our turn to vote. 

The waiting was not a comfortable one as we had to endure the room's heat. All four electric fans were turned off except for the two lighted 40w florescent lamps that emitted heat that added to our inconvenience. As expected in this situation, all of us were sweating profusely.

After waiting for an hour, we were finally told to step out. I was glad that I am out of this room and be able to vote. My relief turned into dismay the moment we stepped out of the room. We were once again told to sit down in the chairs outside the polling precinct and had to wait again for another half hour. 

When our turn came, me and my brother knew that finally this is it! Inside the room, we were given our ballots that were placed inside a folder with a Commission on Elections (Comelec) seal. The ballot is a long piece of paper that bears the names of all the candidates. All we had to do was to shade the oval beside the name of our preferred candidate.

It took me less than five minutes to finish shading all my candidates. I was guided to the PCOS machine where my ballot was fed. Three tries proved unsuccessful and I was a little bit concerned that my vote will not be counted.

On the fourth attempt, another election personnel approached and assisted me. This time, she inverted the paper. At last, it was a success!

Immediately thereafter, to complete the process, an election personnel placed a drop of indelible ink on my pointing finger. Comelec have continued this practice of placing indelible inks as a deterrent for people not to be able to vote more than once.   

I am very glad that it's over! I have once again done my share in nation building by choosing the right people to sit in government.