Lawyers’ group seeks another round of voting simulation for Eleksyon 2022

The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) on Wednesday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to organize another round of voting simulation to ensure transparency and accountability in Eleksyon 2022.

As observers during the Comelec's voting simulation exercise on October 23 in San Juan Elementary School, LENTE policy consultant Helen Graido said the primary purpose of the simulation was not achieved due to low voter turnout and missing election day stakeholders.

Over the weekend, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the voting simulation would help them determine the process of voting on election day itself in May 2022. He added that after their simulation exercise, expected voting time would only take 30 to 40 minutes. 

But Graido said newly introduced safety measures could not have been assessed with only 11.31% voter turnout.

“With this level of voter participation, we are unable to assess if the newly introduced safety measures, such as the holding rooms and Isolation Polling Place, are enough to ensure the health and safety of all election stakeholders,” said Graido in a statement.

For LENTE executive director Ona Caritos, the pollster's first round of simulation is not enough, adding that Comelec must widen the scope of its participants in future simulations.

GMA News Online has reached out to Comelec for comment.

LENTE also made the following recommendations for the voting center entrance and voters' assistance desk:

Voting center entrance

1. Queueing can be managed by deploying separate priority lanes for:
   • voters who are members of the vulnerable sectors and
   • voters who exhibit symptoms on the day of elections. 
2. The triaging process should be designed and consulted with health experts, given the expected volume on Election Day and limited manpower.

Voters’ Assistance Desk (VAD)

1. Separate priority for voters belonging to the vulnerable sectors should be set up.
2. Waiting time can be shortened through deployment of additional support staff who will attend to voters' queries of the voters.
3. Voters must be encouraged to check their precinct assignments prior to Election Day.
4. The online precinct finder should be launched soon, while the Voter Information System (VIS) should be fully implemented to cater to those without internet access. 

Additional staff in polling places

Also, LENTE advised that there must be additional staff to help the most vulnerable sectors who are expected to have longer waiting times in Emergency Accessible Polling Places (EAPP).

"EAPPs are designed to cater to the most vulnerable sectors of the voting population, thus, any unnecessary extension of their waiting times increases their risk of exposure to COVID-19," LENTE said.

The additional staff will be able to do the following:

1. Orientation of eligible voters as to the purpose and consequences of availing of the EAPP;
2. Distribution and collection of authorization forms for voters; and
3. Getting from and returning to the original polling places the ballots of the EAPP voters.

For the polling place set-up, LENTE noted the following:

• The 3-classroom set-up may contribute to crowd dispersal, but it may be vulnerable to illegal handling of election paraphernalia and vote-buying. If there is a separate VCM room, the voter shall be allowed to exit the voting room with his ballot on-hand.
• Additional support staff should be deployed to take care of the queuing system among the several stations inside the voting center (triage, VAD, EAPP and/or regular polling places).
• As visual cues, signages must be properly placed inside the voting center.

LENTE also said that there must be enough support staff at isolation polling places, to halt the disqualification of voters who show symptoms of COVID-19 on election day.

Tap medical experts as observers

In addition, the lawyers' group recommended that Comelec tap medical experts and public health-oriented civil society organizations as observers.

"Effective safety protocols should be products of consultations with health experts for voters to be assured that protocols are up to date and responsive to the given context," it added.

Voter registration for Eleksyon 2022 was set until October 30, 2021 while election day in 2022 is on May 9. — BM, GMA News