So you have shared and liked a thousand social media posts about your candidate over the past 100 days. Admit it, you have culled your friends’ list but you’ve a made mental note to follow them again.
You have gift-wrapped your house with posters of your bets as you have proudly worn their wristbands as if they were pricey bling.
You even find yourself humming their catchy jingles, making you a certifiable LSS captive.
Today is the day you will formalize your choice but as you read this piece with your coffee, the realization that you have zero inkling how to vote jolts you more than the caffeine in your cup does.
First thing first. It will be hot out there. Change to comfy clothes, and leave that vest with the name of your candidate you painstakingly handstitched behind. Walking billboards are not allowed inside polling places.
Bring water. Hydrate. You don’t want your fainting to end up as a YouTube hit. Beat the heat by going to your assigned precinct early. Voting starts 6 a.m.
Better yet, ask a housemate to reconnoiter the place. If there’s someone in the house who jogs before sunrise, ask him to swing by the school where you will vote to scout your exact room.
Bring a valid I.D. with you. And your codigo, too. Although reams of sample ballots will be thrust on your face that you’ll feel that you’re being swamped by leaflets in a housing fair, there’s no substitute for what you have personally prepared.
Upon arriving at the voting place, which probably is a school, look for your name in the voters list. Ask help from accredited volunteers. Take note of your precinct, sequence, and room number.
Fall in line. There’ll be a queue but not as long as the one that coils around an MRT station. Give your name, valid I.D. , and precinct number to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs).
If your name checks out, you’ll be handed a ballot, a ballot secrecy folder, a marker. Go to the “voting area” shown to you, which most probably is an armchair, the one you sat on when you were in grade school eons ago.
Inspect the ballot. Make sure it is free of any marks or smudges. Place it securely on a flat surface.
Carefully shade the entire oval corresponding to your candidate of choice. Important reminder: The oval, smaller than a mongo grain, is to the left of your chosen candidate’s name.
The Comelec says you can prop up the folder so no one would see whom you’re voting for. Actually, nothing prevents you from doing it in the open, if, in one last act of partisanship, you want to advertise your choices.
Do not mark your ballot. It is not an affidavit that will have to be initialized at the margins. Don’t autograph it with emoticons.
Undervoting is allowed and so is abstaining. Overvoting is not. You’re voting for half of the Senate, meaning 12, not the 24 en banc. Choose one mayor, one governor, and so forth. If you have multiple choices for one slot, your vote, as you will soon find, will not be counted.
Next step is feeding your ballot into the vote-counting machine.
Whether you put the ballot top or bottom side first, front or back side first, the VCM can read it back-to-back.
If the ballot is rejected by the VCM during scanning, the BEI will allow you to re-feed the ballot up to four times. If it still rejected, and it is not the voter’s fault, you will be given a replacement ballot.
Wait for your receipt to print and let the precinct supervisor cut your receipt from the machine.
Don’t perforate it on your own as it could yank out the entire roll of thermal paper and shut down the VCM.
Before you get your voter’s receipt, have your right forefinger marked with indelible ink first.
Review your receipt. If there’s a discrepancy, quietly approach the BEI to register your complaint.
Don’t throw a tantrum, or chant your candidate’s name while crying out fraud. There’s no need for theatrics. Frivolous complaints can be penalized. State your case and sign the back of your receipt upon making a complaint.
If the receipt faithfully reflects your choices, fold and drop it at the receptacle beside the VCM.
You cannot bring it home. You cannot photograph it. In fact, selfies are not allowed inside the voting room. You can’t wear a GoPro cam either. Save the selfies until you’re outside the precinct.
Now that you’ve voted, be the change you want to see in your society.
Dispose of the leaflets properly, or bring them home for recycling. Littering should not be your first act after voting for a candidate who ran on a platform of asking the citizens to practice discipline.
If you will drive to the voting precinct, be sure to park your car properly. You don’t plan on voting for change and yet violated traffic rules en route to where you will cast your ballot.
What is important is not whom you voted for but what you will do after you have voted. Before the new administration can implement the changes you want to see around you, carry out the changes you can do yourself.
Real change should come from below, not dictated from above.