OAV

"Cramming is always the norm."

This is my first time to witness the conduct of overseas voting by our kababayans in a foreign land.

As of this writing, only some 8 percent of registered voters have actually cast their ballots in Taiwan.  Oldtimers at the Manila Economic and Cultural Office here say that turn-out and interest during mid-term elections is generally lower than when candidates contest the presidency of our country.

Also, it is a very Filipino trait to exercise whether right or duty when deadline nears.  Look at the filing of income taxes, when most take their sweet time until the last day of filing.

Cramming is always the norm.

MECO maintains three offices in the whole island of Taiwan: Taipei the capital to serve the northern part and where our administrative, trade, tourism and main labor office is located; Taichung to serve the central part, and Kaohsiung for the south.  In all three offices, overseas absentee voting has been held since April 13, to last until election day in the Philippines.  As directed by the Comelec, we open our voting centers even on Sundays and holidays, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday included.

Halfway through the voting period, with just 15 days to go before May 13, only some 8 percent of the registered voters have cast their votes.

Before they enter the designated polling center, voters are asked to watch a Comelec-supplied instructional video to make sure that they are well-informed about the manner of voting, this being the first time automated voting machines are being used here.

In our Taipei office, there is a giant video wall where the Comelec video is shown and where voters are asked to first view the instructions.  In the Taichung and Kaohsiung branches, there is a television monitor where the same is shown.

Thereafter, the prospective voter is ushered into the voting center, at the lobby on ordinary days, and inside the main hall during non-working days.  Cell phones and cameras are not allowed inside the voting center.  

There they are asked for an ID where they have both photograph and signature, and this is compared to the Comelec-authorized voter’s book of registry.

The next step is to get the ballot from the chair of the BEI, where the voter is asked to inspect the ballot given to certify that this is an unused ballot, with no markings whatsoever on the ovals beside the candidates or party-list names.

Having inspected the ballot and agreeing that it is a clean and un-marked ballot, they then proceed to the actual voting booth.  After finishing their ballot, they proceed to the automated voting machine where they feed their ballot covered by the Comelec-supplied folder to ensure that nobody sees who they voted for.

A receipt is then printed once the machine receives and reads the ballot. The same is inspected by the voter before he or she inserts this paper trail proof inside the ballot box.

We have had thus far a couple of problems, but after investigation by the supervisors, it was found out that these likely were due to the voter’s mistakes.

In one, he complained that a vote was erroneously credited to a candidate he did not vote for.  It turned out that he may have shaded the wrong oval corresponding to his candidate. He said he was for a candidate whose name began with an A but the same was credited to  another with the same beginning letter.

In another, a voter loudly protested that she voted for 12 senatorial candidates but only 9 names were credited in the receipt.  It turned out she did not follow instructions.  She shaded only a small portion of the oval, when in the audio visual instructions, and even when she took her ballot, the election officer clearly told her to shade the entire oval.

Angrily, she said Comelec should have provided reading glasses, as she forgot her spectacles.  Oh well.

* * *

Meanwhile, the all-too-important presidential elections in Taiwan are coming up January 25 next year.  Whoever wins begins his or her four-year term in May of 2020.

The two major parties (Taiwan has an established two-party system, although minor parties exist, and independents can run as well) are now gearing up for their selection process, called party primaries.

In the administration Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), also labelled the “green” party, the incumbent, Pres. Tsai Ing-wen is being challenged by her former Premier and former Tainan mayor, William Lai.

The latter has maintained the need for their selection system via a primary instead of giving in to the incumbent who was elected in 2016.

In the rival Kuomintang (KMT) also known as the “blue” party, there are several wannabes vying to champion the party’s fate, after an astounding upset in the November 2108 mid-term elections where they won a huge majority of the mayoralty and magistrate seats.

Of late, no less than billionaire Terry Gou, the chair and CEO of the giant Foxconn Group, or Hon Hai Electronics, makers of Apple and other electronic products, has announced his desire to be president of Taiwan.

Speculation also swirls around Mayor Han Kuo-yu, who was elected in November of 2018, and upset two decades of DPP rule in the southern port city.  Mayor Han has played coy about his ambitions, which our MECO political officer likens to then Mayor Duterte’s disavowals of a presidential run in 2015.

And then again, independent Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je, a medical doctor who successfully won re-election for a second term last November 2018, is likewise being watched as a potential “third force” candidate by observers of the political scene.