A simulation of this year’s village and youth council elections will be conducted in Tondo, Manila on April 21, the Commission on Elections’ Project Management Office announced on Tuesday.
This is in line with the ongoing preparation for the poll exercise, which was originally scheduled on Oct. 31, 2016, but cancelled and re-scheduled to Oct. 23, 2017 and then to May 14 this year.
Comelec-PMO director Teopisto Elnas said the simulation will be conducted at the Rosario Almario Elementary School in Tondo from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Actual voters in the Clustered Precincts No. 63 and 64 of Barangay 20, Tondo will participate in the simulation at 50 voters per precinct. Likewise, the ones that will serve as members of the Electoral Boards and Barangay Board of Canvassers are those designated in the concerned precincts,” said Elnas.
One of the objectives of the activity is to simulate the voting and canvassing processes, and to test the readiness of the members of the Electoral Boards and the BBOCs to perform their respective duties, he added.
Elnas said the simulation will enable the poll body to identify potential problems and resolutions, and to help voters be familiar with what to expect on Election Day.
“This will be the first SK elections to be held after the passage of the SK Reform Act of 2015, so the Commission is looking to address the confusion that may arise due to the 18-to-30-years-old voters being given two ballots to fill out, as well as other potential problems,” said Elnas.
The Comelec is conducting a manual barangay and SK poll since the commission does not need to consolidate votes on a national level.
Voters are to choose one chairman and six barangay council members, while younger voters will elect their SK chief and six council members.
Comelec spokesperson James Arthur Jimenez said barangay and SK ballots that will be used all over the country, except in Mindanao, will bear the date “October 23, 2017,” because these ballots were printed in 2017, supposedly for use in the polls scheduled for that year.
“Unfortunately, the law postponing the 2017 BSKE was enacted only after all the ballots had already been printed,” said Jimenez.
Ballots bound for Mindanao, however, are still being printed and will bear the correct date—May 14, 2018, he noted.
“These ballots were not printed in 2017, since the Comelec had promptly declared the suspension of elections in Mindanao as a consequence of the imposition of martial law in that part of the country,” Jimenez added.
He reminded voters that both barangay and SK ballots will contain the following instructions: “Fill out the ballot secretly, using a ballot secrecy folder. Do not put any distinctive mark on any part of this ballot.”
Under Comelec Resolution 10248, voters in the National Capital Region, Luzon and Visayas Regions will be using the 59,578,346 official ballots that were printed from Aug. 9, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2017.
New and additional ballots, accountable and non-accountable forms will also be printed for those who registered from Nov. 6, 2017 to Nov. 30, 2017.