THE high turnout (88% of voters) of the just concluded national and local elections in Bohol may be encouraging but not without some lapses, like lack of ballots, or failed machine operation and troublesome election-related incidents.
In Garcia-Hernandez town, a barrio lacks over 200 ballots sending voters to other neighboring villages to cast their votes, incumbent provincial Board Member Jade Acapulco who ran for mayor, said in her privilege speech during the Sangguniang Panlalawigan session last week.
“For the first time in history, one barangay has declared 200 plus insufficient/lacking ballots at around 3 p.m. As a result, voters were distributed to other precincts and were even allowed to vote until 10 p.m. when all the poling precincts should be closed at 7 p.m.,” mayoralty candidate Jade Acapulco, who lost to her opponent, said.
She said that it was even “worse” since the voters “were escorted by some barangay officials all the way inside the polling precincts. This is a blatant abuse of authority.”
Acapulco did not name the barangay officials, who are barred from entering the polling areas, except when they cast their vote.
Another poll mess is that a quite big number of ballots with votes cast were lost. After she got hold of official receipts from vote counting machines (VCMs), Acapulco had this to say: “We found out that there were 883 total unknown ballots cast and it was not mentioned whether these were spoiled ballots or what.”
She believed that if those 883 unknown ballots are indeed spoiled it may have a huge effect on the result.
She also alleged that her opponent’s supporter has already poste on facebook that his bet won in two barrios when it was yet 4 p.m. or the voting was still going on. Did they canvass the votes ahead of schedule?
Acapulco, who conceded the result, said that she cannot just keep silent on what really happened on the ground for “this affects the sanctity and integrity of our votes.”
And to improve the voting system, these election fiascos must be addressed. “Using the advanced technology such as PCOS has its advantages for sure, but the glaring error on vote counting is indubitable,” she stressed.
This concern was referred to the SP’s committee on public accountability during the said session (May 24, 2022) presided over by outgoing Vice-Gov. Rene Relampagos. (rvo)
