When someone asked me why I didn’t vote in the 2010 Philippine Presidential Election, I only told them two things:
1. Its going to be a very long discussion
2. I am not against the practice of voting but I am against the process of voting in the country.
The way I see it the comission on elections (Comelec) railroaded the transition from manual to automated elections.
It failed to address the concerns addressed to them, in fact even at the election day itself, it failed to fulfill its promise of a good and orderly election.
Case #1 Speed:
Automation of elections in essence is meant to speed up the the election process and not dis-enfranchise voters. From dying voters because of extreme heat due to waiting for so long in line. Some even became really disappointed they decided to not vote altogether. I believe that Comelec should take responsibility of these people who died, fainted or made to wait a very long time just to practice their rights. Not to mention the rationale behind clustering precincts.
Case #2 Practicality:
The ballot used can only be used once, it can never be replaced ergo if you had a mistake (smudged the ink on the ballot, the ballot became wet because of sweat or anything, or you simply weren’t able to mark the ballot properly) then you lose that vote and you just wasted your time lining up. Comelecs’ rules are as follows, never create a mistake or else you can never have the chance to vote or change your vote/ballot anymore.
My concern is this, was this concern been raised with the masses? Were they given the heads up by the people? Was there a caucus that agreed to “these rules”?
In my opinion there was never a caucus, people were just fed this automation and these rules they were never given the chance to question the process not even the ballots itself, nor were the people given the chance to even practice on not getting any mistakes not even the chance to redeem themselves from their mistakes. The rules of the Comelec were forced down peoples’ throats.
Case #3 Extreme Railroading:
Merriam Webster defines Railroading being a transitive verb as (b : to push through hastily or without due consideration), the Comelec is very much guilty of this crime, without testing the machines properly as well as testing the speed of the process by having real people as test subjects. The Comelec with the help of Smartmatic merely decided to push thru the elections disregarding these concerns, hiding behind the argument that the date of elections can never be moved because it is against the constitution. This is the Comelec trying to wash its hands on its mistakes, lack of foresight and stubborness. They had more than enough time to fix the machines, test them and educate the people and yet despite all the seemingly endless scandals hounding the Comelec they chose to turn a blind eye on them and on us.
So if you ask me again why I didn’t vote, it is not just because I don’t want the Comelec to have its way. It is also my way of not taking part of a very well planned deception hidden behind the integrity of the practice of voting.
Voting per se is good, the same goes to practicing your rights but never is it a reason to vindicate an erring institution from the beginning. And please don’t give me that “there are no perfect institutions, governments” crap because that makes it more the reason to never support that kind of institution or government.
I refuse to be a part of a very questionable process and I refuse to be used by a practice that is viewed only by virtue of its action but never its essence.
True voting never ends after an election, true voting is counted only when we make our accountable institutions pay for their dysfunctionalities.
True voting is when we know the answer to the question “Why do I vote?”
And true voting is about choices and never about DEADLINES.
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Speed. Never we experienced a ‘slow’ release of result by just the second day after elections (now at 89% completion as I am typing). This is against 1 week and more from the traditional elections. Not to mention the time to move ballot boxes, the stealing, the debates, the recounts etc.
Practicality. What is more simple? shading a small circle, or writing a whole name? which can be misread by the canvasser (not a rare case). Wrong spelling invalidates a vote. Because you didn’t vote, you did not see how the “masses” would practice shading a sample before actually going to the voting booth. And you didn’t see HUGE tarps posted in every room explaining in English, and Tagalog how to do things. Not to mention volunteers who will tell you how to go about things even look for the precinct number for you.
Railroading. I admit that the automated election was hurried, partly because of the great opposition to the new system out of fear and ignorance. The comelec has much to be responsible for this. But every new system is painful, that’s how we learn, we experience.
If we prefer the past election’s history of rampant cheating, violence, “noted” ballots because they don’t know what to do with it; we are not moving forward, we are conceding to the idea that we will never better ourselves because it’ll hurt.
Hi ezra,
I was there I didn’t vote because of some reasons I posted in this site, but I was there and I read what you are talking about, I am not talking about the speed of results I am talking about the massive disenfranchisement may I ask how many people in your precinct who werent able to vote or had been there for how many hours then lets talk.
Also fear and ignorance doesn’t mean not answering the questions thrown at comelec which they promptly did. I’m not sure if you are even watching or reading the news mate.
…I was there and I READ what you are talking about, ….
Hi,
Funny how I just contradicted myself. Sorry about that. Mate.
of course I’m being lightly sarcastic
yeah i guess you might be right regarding the line, but even though i was sweating like a pig, that doesnt mean i wont vote… CAUSE I NEVER LOST HOPE!!!! unlike people here who would rather go home just because they cant wait for a day to stay on the line… WELL, FACT IS THE RESULTS ARE SHOWN IN JUST TWO DAYS…. how about that!
For someone who is concerned for all those who were disenfranchised, isn’t it grossly irresponsible that you did not vote when others would sacrifice their time, comfort and even their health or life just to be able to trade places with you and vote?
And then we complain why our officials are corrupt and incompetent: Because we just don’t care if they win. One more thing to write about in a blog I guess.
zzzzz: I think you didn’t read what I wrote, either way you just have to go to http://www.pcij.org/blog/ or read about what namfrel told about the elections to give you a glimpse of what I am driving at.
I think its YOU who didn’t read what I wrote. It’s a simple question really. I forgive you nonetheless. Hope you can forgive me too for being an a$$hole. It’s better than pointing fingers. Let’s move on.