A voter feeds her ballot in the vote counting machine at a clustered precinct in Sto Tomas Central Elementary School during the conduct of May 9 National and Local elections in Sto Tomas town, Davao del Norte. (Mart D. Sambalud/davaotoday.com)
STO. TOMAS, Davao del Norte — Hundreds of voters here feared they could not cast their votes for today’s elections because their names were delisted from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) official voter’s list.
Melba Clarinan, a staff of church-based Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voters (PPCRV) told DavaoToday that voters were dismayed to learn that their names were not listed in the precinct voter’s list issued by the poll body.
“That’s the problem that majority of the voters encountered today. Their names were delisted and they could not cast their votes,” Clarinan said.
She said that majority of the senior citizen voters could not participate in today’s election. “We inform them to see the Comelec office to clarify the issue.”
As of 8:00 am, Monday more than 700 voters flocked to Comelec’s and PPCRV’s information desk to check their names and precinct numbers but to no avail. Clarinan attributed the problem due to poor voter’s information.
“Some are not aware of the No Bio-No Boto campaign of the Comelec. That’s the main reason we think that their names were delisted.”
But voter Lupon Aban, 49, a resident of Feeder Road 5, Sto Tomas town complained that despite the precinct number provided by Comelec here, his name could not be found.
“I don’t know what’s the problem with the Comelec’s list because they issued a precinct number to me but my name was not in the official list at the precinct level.”
Voters Linda Aquino, 60, Roland Mendez, 42, and Julian Mugas, 76, all residents of this town encountered the same problem and admitted that they were not able to update their voting records using Comelec’s biometric voters registration.
“No, I am not aware that Comelec is implementing that,” Mugas told Davaotoday when asked if he knew of Comelec’s No Bio-No Boto campaign. Mendez, for his part, complained that the Comelec’s voters list are not readable for senior citizen voters.
“It’s too small to read and the ink is fading already. It is very hard for voters to read and search their names.” (davaotoday.com)
