How to Vote in Automated Polls by Shanaz Well, www.pinoysignal.com

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Natural Disasters 2010

Batu-bato sa Langit,
Tamaa'y 'wag Magagalit

It is a compilation of Filipino Poetry depicting real-life and sensational situations affecting Filipino lives. These were written for the sole purpose of waking up the ideals and shaking the nerves of Filipinos inside and outside the Philippines. Batu-bato sa Langit is a prominent Filipino proverb, which means that whoever is affected by the contents of these poetries may react against it. But the writers placed these facts with symbolism and passion to deliver the realities of today.

Lugaw Para sa Bata
Feeding Project

"Lugaw Para sa Bata" is a small project from Team Kabsat in Pangasinan who aimed to give Lugaw as breakfast to few children in the province of Pangasinan in the Philippines. United with the heart of service and Filipino thoughtfulness, Team Kabsat decided to serve Lugaw to children ages 4 to 12 on selected areas to atleast minimize hungerproblem especially to small children. As of the moment, Team Kabsat shall feed only 100 children every month as that number is, as of the moment, the possible count that they can serve. However, Team Kabsat is looking forward that the Lugaw Project shall not only serve 100 children every month but more children are expected to be reached with this small project. read more

FILIPINOS AROUND

How to Vote in Automated Polls
By Shanaz Marie Well, 21 March 2010

This article was initiated by www.pinoysignal.com in order to help disseminate information to Filipino voters on the upcoming Philippine election. This is not an official process but this website aims at delivering information that can help various audience in relation to the coming election. The situation from one place to another might be different but the principle on how to vote in an automated polls shall be introduced here, based on the understanding of different technicians and supervisors on their trainings over the operation of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine to be used on May 10, 2010 Philippine national election.

1. Just like the manual election, the registered voter goes to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) for verification, whether or not, the voter went to the right precinct or not.

2. The voter shall be given a ballot. This time, it totally differs from the election ballot on the manual election. This is yet to be seen by the writer during the election, but as described by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine supervisors, the ballot is longer, measuring 10 inches width and 36 inches length. It shall contain all the names of the candidates from national to local candidates. Beside the name of each candidate is an oval space, where the voter can shade if he/she chose to vote for that candidate. A special marker is already placed on the respective seats of the voters. A voter needs to shade the space provided for his chosen candidate and any ambiguous marking on the ballot will be recognized by the machine, which will lead to a discounted vote. The BEIs shall always be in their respective polling places to assist the voter’s technical problems if any.

3. After shading beside the names of the chosen candidates, the voter shall insert his ballot vertically on the machine. The BEIs are present to assist the voter. The technicians can assist BEIs for any technical problems of the machine. The technician’s and supervisor’s protocol, as to their entrance or exit in the polling precincts are dependent on the BEIs instructions. While the BEIs manage the election process, technicians and supervisors of the machines shall focus only on the machines itself, if and only if there are error occurrence that needs their attention. For every insertion of a ballot, the machine reads at once the shaded portion, counts the vote, and saves in its memory.

4. After the ballot was read by the machine, the voter goes to the BEI for the traditional ink marking on his right index finger.

5. Be reminded that in this coming election, the PCOS machine shall count one choice of President, one Vice President, etc. Take for instance a voter shaded for two Presidents, the PCOS machine shall make an error prompt. It could lead to the invalidation of the whole ballot. This is just an extreme example.