your sentiments and reactions on the 2010 election experience, voice them out here

first time that the country is conducting an automated election in its history. aside from that historic omoent, this election is also one of the most important in the country’s history.

you have gone to the polling places and casted your vote, now let us know how you feel, how the experience went and whatever your thoughts are.

tell us what you think, some leads for your to answer:

• areas of improvements
• what were the problem areas
• where were the problems
• what irritated you the most
• what went well
• what made you happy
• what are the good things
• what did you like the most

COMELEC website is down, precinct finder overwhelmed by hits, telephone numbers given

Comelec website down, hotlines announced

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 05/10/2010 9:23 AM | Updated as of 05/10/2010 9:25 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Due to the unexpected number of hits on Election Day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) website has become unavailable for voters and the general public, as of posting time.

“Unfortunately, there are too many people visiting the website now. Obviously, the service is not accessible as we want it to be,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in an interview on ANC Monday morning.

“Traffic to visit the Comelec website was more than what we had anticipated. We doubled the bandwidth. Unfortunately, things happen so we’re taking remedial steps to still allow people to check on the precincts,” he added.

Larrazabal, chairman of the poll automation steering committee, announced that the precinct finder on the Comelec website will be taken out.

Those who want to find their precincts may call the information technology (IT) department of the Comelec. The hotlines are

• 527-0841
• 527-2773
• 527-2772
• 527-0822
• 526-7769
• 526-7770

The Comelec commissioner noted that the bandwidth of the poll body’s website was increased to 10 megabits per second (Mbps) from 5 Mbps.

As for the election results, Larrazabal said the Comelec will release the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) later in the day.

source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/05/10/10/comelec-website-down-hotlines-announced

the misunderstanding on automated election – not for speed of voting process but for accuracy of counting

the election is on going in most parts of  the country. the complaints are not on the PCOS machine malfunctioning but on the long wait for voters to get on with the voting. this is frustrating a lot of voters specially now that we experiencing a heat wave.

voters are complaining about the long lines leading to the polling precinct, the inability to quickly confirm the precinct number and the wait to get a ballot and vote. once inside the polling precinct,  it takes the voter anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes from filling up the ballot and getting the PCOS machine.

the long lines are  not being caused by the automated election system that the country is doing for the first time  in its history. unfortunately most people thought that speed in voting is one of the things it is supposed to solve.

automated election was meant to solve accuracy in the counting of the votes, also to a large degree prevent election cheating and speed up the counting process, not speed in voting during the election process. where before it took the country to get election results after several weeks, the automated election  will enable the country to get the results after 2 days at the longest.

what the voters need now is patience, an umbrella and water to drink while in line.

click here to know your precinct number and confirm you are a registered voter

please note latest on this one — COMELEC’s precinct finder is down, overwhlemed by hits. they have given hotline numbers to call.

Those who want to find their precincts may call the information technology (IT) department of the Comelec. The hotlines are

• 527-0841
• 527-2773
• 527-2772
• 527-0822
• 526-7769

~~wawam~~

try this out,  confirm if you are a registered voter and find your precinct number, click here: http://www.comelec.gov.ph/precinctfinder/precinctfinder.aspx

526-7770

our stand – POSTPONE THE ELECTION, fix all problems first

POSTPONE THE ELECTION!

 

there is no reason why we cannot postpone the election! there are simply too many problems being encountered with the PCOS machine and the whole system of the automated election. we knew from the very start the COMELEC did not have enough time to fix everything, these new developments with the machine proves that one more time. 

let’s be honest with ourselves, there is just too many unknowns on this thing that we should postpone the election and fix everything first. postponing it will only bring inconvenience but it will ensure that when we actually conduct the election and everything has been tested and fixed, then it’s a credible election with no questions to cast doubt on it,

let us postpone the election! we think one week to two weeks at the most will do it. and during that time, everything should be tested and fixed.

POSTPONE THE ELECTION!

on-site tests from all over on PCOS machines show problems

NP bares irregularities in PCOS machines

By Maila Ager

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 20:55:00 05/03/2010

MANILA, Philippines – Alleged irregularities in the testing and sealing of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines have been discovered by the camp of Nationalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Manny Villar.

In Muntinlupa, for instance, Villar’s name could not be read by the poll automated machines, NP spokesman and senatorial bet Gilbert Remulla said over the phone on Monday night.

“When the result came out after the voting, walang Villar na lumabas [no vote for Villar was counted]. Our team members voted but their Villar vote did not appear,” Remulla said.

In Mindoro, Remulla said, the machines only read the name of administration bet, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

“Tapos sa local officials, mga taga Lakas (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) lang ang lumalabas [And among the local officials, only candidates of the Lakas appear],” he said.

Other irregularities in the testing of PCOS machines, he said, were also reported in Batangas, Makati, and Pateros.

“Hindi binabasa ang boto ng tao [It does not read the votes of the people],” said Remulla.

He then asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to address the problem.

“It seems that there’s basis to speculations of a failure of election, after all,” Remulla said.

“The Comelec has to answer to these serious charges against them,” he added.

are the ingredients of a gilbert teodoro presidency already in place?

these are the things that have happened in the past weeks:

• automated election failure – this has been on a roller coaster ride – from it being done to it will not be done to it will not be done to it will be done and back. we are all confused on this one. we seem to get a different prognosis almost every 4 days as somebody discovers a new kink, then denied or all of a sudden fixed by the COMELEC. the confusion even comes from the COMELEC itself. there has been a never ending laundry list of issues – from machines, to delivery dates, ballot design, ballot printing, teachers training to almost everything and anything that concerns it. what we are being told here at the very least is that it is not dependable and there are many things that can go wrong. we have been given a preview of what might be pointed out as what caused the problem after the election.
• overstated number of registered voters, multiple registrations – the most recent is the number of voters registered – they are inflated due to multiple registrations by the same person. the numbers are so staggering that they can change the election results in a close election which it appears it will be.
• power supply and brownouts – this is another that is on a roller coaster ride.  months ago we were told there will be no problem with brownouts during the election, we have enough power supply, el nino happened and that took us to being told it will be no problem still to there is a problem, then rotating brownouts to no rotating brownouts then back. do we have enough power supply or not? we don’t know. we might, we might not have., just like the number of times they have changed their pronouncements on rotating brownouts in metro manila.
• appointment of new AFP chief –  this one seem to be both controversial and expected. controversial as some deserving generals have been bypassed by the appointment of the new AFP chief. expected as the newly appointed AFP chief is a known to be an avid supporter of the president. the president is the adapted member of the PMA class of the  new AFP chief. also, many of the officers coming from this class have been appointed to key military positions.
• appointment of new supreme court chief justice –  just yesterday, the supreme court has ruled that arroyo can appoint the next SC chief even though there has been a precedent where it was not allowed by the SC and the constitution clearly states it in actuality and intent that it is not allowed.
• gilbert teodoro, lakas-kampi-cmd standard bearer suspicious’ drop in ad spending – teodoro has been suffering in all major nationwide polls so far since last year until the latest. the most that teodoro could do is in the 5% to 7% range and always on the 4th place while there have been aggressive movements among the top 3. aquino’s ratings are falling while villar has been moving up and now statistically tied with aquino. estrada has been moving up who is on third. teodoro’s ratings are stagnant despite ad spending that was the 2nd highest to villar’s top spending. (read: presidentiables spend P2B on advertising. top spenders – villar 1st, teodoro 2nd and aquino 3rd) performance in the polls is so poor that officers of his own political party  have expressed their anxiety on it with some already anticipating a teodoro loss in the election (read: teodoro set to lose election – teodoro’s own LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD party. giving up on teodoro too soon?). with that performance, we find it alarming, also confused that teodoro during the last month media spending tracking had spent practically nothing in tv ads at a mere P64T only. this a most unusual thing to do. you are down at the polls, you do not cut on advertising, you do the opposite – you increase in ad spending. the main candidates, villar, aquino and estrada have sustained  ad spending.

putting all the above together, this is a possible scenario, courtesy of  oliver stone a famous hollywood  director for conspiracy theory movies : the comelec will declare the major candidates villar, aquino and estrada as disqualified from the election due to violating the law on election ad spending, declaring the 4th placer, gilbert teodoro as winner.

that comelec decision is well protected with the chief justice of the supreme court appointed by arroyo and the AFP  chief  protecting arroyo.

Asked why he thought Teodoro spent almost zero for TV ads in the first weeks of the campaign, Cadiz surmised that the Lakas-Kampi standard-bearer was playing on the safe side of the law.

“He is a lawyer; he knows the campaign limit spending, so he just wants to comply…so he’ll not be charged with any offense. But we don’t know what his campaign strategy is,” Cadiz said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100304-256616/Teodoro-lowest-spender-of-political-ads

the other components like the automated election problems, the brownouts and the overstated number of voters are options that may be availed of. these in themselves are there to already create doubts on the election.

someone call oliver stone, quick!