Mall voting precincts set up ahead of May 12 polls 

Several shopping malls have prepared the voting precincts within their establishments a few days before the midterm elections on Monday, May 12. 

According to Vonne Aquino’s report on “State of the Nation” on Thursday, one mall in the City of Manila will have a voting area for nearly 700 registered voters in Barangay 659. 

The said mall is just one of the 42 malls under the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) mall voting program, which seeks to provide a comfortable voting environment, especially to persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and pregnant women. 

“Ang mga makakaboto po rito ay yung mga resident, registered voters na nasa paligid ng mall…nagkaroon ng consultation sa kanila,” said Comelec chairperson George Garcia. 

(Those who can vote here are the residents, registered voters who live around the mall...there was a consultation with them.) 

In the said mall, the voting precinct features an express lane for PWDs, the elderly, and pregnant women. 

The precinct also has an area for media and poll watchers. 

The voting precinct inside the malls will be open from 5 am for the vulnerable sectors and from 7 am for other assigned registered voters. 

“Wala pong pinagkaiba. May dala pa rin po tayong mga makina sa mga mall. Kung halimbawa po, ilang presinto ‘yan, nangangahulugan ‘yan din po ang bilang ng mga makina na pinapadala natin sa mga presintong po ‘yan,” said Garcia. 

(This is no different. We will have machines in the malls. For example, if there are several precincts, that also means the number of machines we are sending to those precincts are the same.) 

Further, the poll body said that mall owners and operators lent their facilities, personnel, and equipment for the elections for free.

“Ang lagi talagang sentro ng lahat ay yung tinatawag na higher voting experience. ‘Yung walang tensyon, walang violence, walang fear sa kanilang pagboto,” Garcia added. 

(The focus of all of these is to have a higher voting experience. That means no tension, no violence, and no fear while voting.) —Vince Angelo Ferreras/LDF, GMA Integrated News

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