Taking receipt out of polling place, ‘frivolous’ complaints now poll offenses

Taking the voting receipt out of the polling place, as well as making petty complaints on how the machine read your vote, have formally been introduced as election offenses for the May 9 polls.

In a resolution released Tuesday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc amended certain provisions in the General Instructions for Board Election Inspectors (BEIs) for the upcoming polls, in light of the Supreme Court's order for voting receipts.

Here, the receipt is now considered “an official election document or election paraphernalia,” citing the high court's decision in a case filed by Bagumbayan and its chairman, former Sen. Richard Gordon, against the poll body.

With this, taking the voting receipt out of the polling place is an election offense, under Sec. 261 (z)(12) of the Omnibus Election Code.

In the amended General Instructions, the poll body said that after cutting the receipt from the VCM, the BEI shall put indelible ink on the voter's right forefinger then hand him the paper.

The voter will then move in front of a voter's receipt receptacle “located beside the VCM,” where he or she can check how the machine read his or her ballot. He or she must drop the receipt in this box before leaving the polling place.

Doing away with procuring new boxes for the receipt, Comelec will be using the black boxes that contain official ballots.

It will also be unlawful for any voter to take out of the polling place other supplies used in voting, including the ballot itself, the secrecy folder, and even the marking pen provided.

Moreover, use of “capturing devices,” including digital cameras and cellular phones, is not allowed “for whatever purpose” inside the polling place.

'Frivolous objections'

Making a frivolous objection, or petty complaint, after reading the contents of the receipt, will be considered an election offense.

An objection raised by a voter on the way the VCM read his or her ballot will be noted in the minutes, or a log of incidents, of the said polling place.

The voter must affix his or her signature at the back of the receipt, which will be attached to the minutes.

The amendment to the General Instructions will allow BEIs “to administer oaths solely for this purpose so that if the protest is frivolous, falsification or perjury charges may be filed.”

Frivolous objections are punishable under the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits anyone from “disrupting or obstructing the election process or causing confusion among the voters,” as well as from spreading “false and alarming reports or information.”

Under the said Code, any election offense shall merit:

• imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years, not subject to probation
• disqualification from holding public office
• deprivation of right to vote.

Comelec chief Andres Bautista earlier said this was intended to prevent people from making baseless complaints to cast doubt on the credibility of the elections, a primary implication the poll body had raised when it justified its initial decision not to print receipts.

Voting time

In the resolution, the en banc also formalized that voting period will be from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This is earlier than the 7 a.m. start in the previous elections.

Earlier, Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, chair of the steering committee for this elections, told GMA News that the final call for voters will be at 5 p.m., with a BEI listing down voters who may still be in line up to 30 meters away from the polling place.

However, voters are encouraged to come to the polling place early, with the issuance of the receipt expected to lengthen the voting process.

In order to save time, the poll body tweaked the configuration of the VCMs to reduce the appearance of the onscreen verification feature down to a mere one second.

Detainee voting hours, meanwhile, will be from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Supplies

The order for voting receipts also meant additional supplies, particularly scissors and thermal paper.

Each polling place will be assigned a pair of scissors.

Moreover, every VCM—which serves around 800 voters—will get a total of 21 rolls of thermal paper.

The resolution will take effect seven days after publication in two dailies and the Comelec website. — RSJ/BAP, GMA News