Nicknames not helpful to bets in automated polls
The use of nickname or stage name would not be of help to the candidates in the 2010 automated polls. This is because the ballots would contain only the complete name of the candidate and the party he or she represents.
Jonathan Sayno, of the City Comelec, said only candidates’ names, political party and party-list group would be placed on the ballot for next year’s political exercise based on the sample ballots provided by Comelec national office.
Unlike in previous Philippine elections where the counting of votes is done manually, the counting of votes would be done by counting machines as embodied on computerized election. Aliases of the candidates would not be included in the ballot, said Sayno.
Sayno said there would also be no equity of the incumbent in next years’ polls. Before, the voters could write the aliases of candidates in the election ballot but not in the automated elections. The vote using aliases would be counted in favor of the incumbent candidates, Sayno said.
In the automated polls, voters will have to shade or blacken the space provided in the ballot. The space is near the candidates’ name or party-list group. There is no need to write the names of the candidates in the official ballot, he said.
Sayno said the early filing of the certificates of candidacy would make it easier in the printing of the ballots. The ballots to be printed in Manila will bear the name of the region, city, positions they are running and their corresponding precincts.
The City Comelec has set a public demonstration on October 8, 2009 of the automated machine to familiarize the voters comes election day next year. Sayno said they will hold a “mock election” and familiarization of the voting machine either at Robinsons Place or the Iloilo City Social Hall in order to accommodate more “mock voters”, said Sayno.
He added they are expecting a high turn-out of voters registrants with the ongoing registration of first-time voters and new registrants. Precincts with 1,000 registered voters would be clustered into four precincts.
The registration of voters at the Robinson’s Place will continue until October 24, 2009. After the said date, the registration would be returned back to the City Comelec office at the Iloilo Terminal Market, said Sayno.
The City Comelec would accept the registrants until 12 midnight of October 31. We are still waiting for further instructions from the national office on whether to extend the registration, Sayno said.