Don’t you just love the Automated Election System (AES)?

YAY!

Few months before the May 10, 2010 elections, I wasn’t sure if I’ll be able to vote. I registered to vote last October 2009 with my sister, Dianne, during the COMELEC satellite registration thing here in our barangay. Everything went great and the whole registration thing was hassle-free. However, months after registering to vote, I checked my records using COMELEC’s online precinct finder but it seems my records are nowhere to be found. Just imagine how frustrated I was upon knowing that there’s a chance that I cannot exercise my right to vote because my records are nowhere to be found.

Few days before the D-Day, I still can’t find my records on COMELEC’s online precinct finder. However, our house help, who’s a PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting) volunteer, told me that my name is actually in the list of voters. I was relieved. And so, during the eve of election day, I made a list of the candidates that I’ll be voting for—from the president up to councilors.

Come May 10, my mom woke up really early to go to our polling center, Morning Breeze Elementary School, which is, I think, one block away from home. I approached the PPCRV Voters’ Assistance Desk, together with my mom and my sister Dianne, to ask where our precincts are. We were given a piece of paper where our information (Clustered Precinct #, Room#, Sequence Number #, etc.) are written. We then proceeded to the Holding Area where we were given number stubs. My sister and I are lucky because there are only a few voters waiting for their turn to vote in our precinct. So, after few minutes, my sister and I were already shading those ovals while my mom is still waiting at the holding area.

I just love how easy it was to vote with the automated election system in place. You just have to shade the oval beside the name of the candidate you wish to vote for. When you’re done, all you have to do is to feed the ballot to the PCOS Machine.

IT WAS ORDERLY AND HASSLE-FREE.

Another great thing about the automated election system is that the release of the results are almost instant. I also love how I can actually see the results of the election per clustered precinct via the COMELEC website. Apparently, I’m the only one who voted for Jamby Madrigal in my precinct.

I voted for JAMBY MADRIGAL! <3

I don’t care if I’m the only one who voted for Jamby in our precinct. I <3 JAMBY!

Kudos to the COMELEC, the teachers who served as BEIs, and the PPCRV.

Tagged as: AES, COMELEC, Jamby Madrigal, PCOS, PCSO