Election Day has always held a special place in my heart—not just as a citizen fulfilling a democratic duty, but also as a daughter to two wonderful senior citizens who’ve taught me the importance of voting. For May 12 #Election2025, I was up before the sun, ready to assist my parents, and face what would become a day filled with observations, unexpected turns, and a bit of comic relief.
Early Start with the Seniors
At exactly 5:00 AM, I was already at our designated voting school with my two senior parents. Since I did my homework a day before—getting our cluster numbers, precinct numbers, and their Certified Voters List (CVL) numbers—we were able to proceed smoothly.
We were assigned to the same cluster room, so I lined them up accordingly. In no time, the election staff ushered them in. I handed over a paper with all their info for faster searching in the CVL (highly recommended, by the way!). Because my mom has trouble seeing clearly, I was asked to present an ID and got officially logged to assist her with voting.
The Marker Chronicles: A Smudgy Situation
Once we got the ballot, my mom and I sat down to shade her choices. That’s when the real challenge began. The marker provided was messy, blot-prone, and unforgiving. It felt like I was in an art class trying to color within the lines—with ink that had a mind of its own. One wrong move and it could’ve invalidated her vote!
Despite the inky ordeal, we managed to get through it. Her ballot was successfully fed into the Automated Counting Machine (ACM), the receipt came out, and we verified the entries—everything matched. She had her finger stamped and her name validated in the CVL. My dad followed with the same smooth process.
A Curious Detour: The Priority Polling Place
After my parents went home, I joined the regular voter line. While waiting, I noticed a room marked PRIORITY POLLING PLACE (PPP), intended for Seniors, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), and Pregnant Women. Curious, I asked one of the staff why there was no ACM inside.
The response puzzled me.
According to them, the PPP does not have its own ACM. Voters there still use official ACM ballot forms, but won’t see their receipts or know the result of their vote right after. Instead, all the ballots would be manually transferred at the end of the day to another precinct with an ACM for processing.
This raised a red flag. Where’s the transparency? These are the very people who need assurance that their votes are counted properly. The staff simply replied, “That’s what COMELEC instructed.”
Efficient Crowd Management
Fortunately, in our precinct, the Cluster Chairman did an impressive job managing the voter traffic. By 7:00 AM, there were still a lot of seniors, so she implemented a system: 10 regular voters and 10 priority voters served alternately. It made the process more orderly and efficient. As a result, I was done voting in just an hour.
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| Done voting at 7:45am |
My Election 2025 experience was a mix of fulfillment, observation, and reflection. While I’m grateful for a fairly smooth process and commend the local staff’s efforts, I also couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the lack of transparency in the PPP setup.
Everyone deserves a fair, clear, and secure voting experience—especially our seniors, PWDs, and expectant mothers.
Here’s hoping future elections address these gaps and bring even more improvements.
Until the next vote!
