With 44,000 voters, elementary school one of largest polling places in vote-rich QC

More than 44,000 registered voters flocked to the President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School on Batasan Road in Quezon City on Monday, making it one of the largest polling places in the country's most vote-rich city.

The conduct of elections at the school did not run smoothly, with at least two of the vote counting machines (VCMs) overheating and temporarily shutting down, and the majority of the Voter Registration Verification System (VRVS) machines either not working or consistently malfunctioning. This resulted in the election staff having to manually verify the votes.

There were also only six markers for each classroom, with each classroom meant to cater to over 800 to 1,000 registered voters.

Due to inadequate supplies for the large number of voters, many people had to wait for hours just to be able to vote.

Senior citizens also complained about an allegedly “unannounced” 2 p.m. cut-off for the use of the senior citizen priority rooms on the ground floor.

But even if they were able to use the priority rooms, the seniors had to climb the stairs to other rooms if they wanted to insert their ballots in the VCMs themselves. 

Check out some of the scenes at the school below.

— BM, GMA News