In preparation for the general elections next year, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted a voting simulation at the San Juan Elementary School in San Juan City on Saturday, Oct. 23.
The poll body streamed live on its official Facebook page the voting simulation activity.
The Comelec earlier said that the activity was aimed at determining the average time frame in the verification process of the identity of voters, identifying other areas of concern or issues in the verification process, and devising measures that will "decongest polling places and implement procedures that will ensure completion of voting process in the shortest possible time.”
In another Facebook live, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez also showed the expected operational process come election day.
Health screening stations will be set up in every voting center where the temperature of each voter will be taken.
If the voter was detected to have a high temperature, he or she will be brought to an "isolation polling place."
“ hiwalay na parang presinto para sa mga taong posibleng may sakit, kung mataas ang temperatura, papasok sila dito... Hiwalay po sila sa general population na wala namang problema sa kanilang kalusugan. Dito yung may mga posibleng may sakit, may nararamdaman na konting ubo, lagnat--dito sila boboto ( a separate precinct for people who may be sick or have high temperature... They will be separated from the general population who have no health problems),” said Jimenez.
If the voter does not have any health-related issues, he or she will proceed to the “voter assistance desk” to know his or her precinct number.
“Dito niyo malalaman kung saan kayo boboto. So, magkakaroon po ng listahan ng botante dito. Yung ating mga guro, sila ang magtutulong sa mga botante para makita kung saan ang kanilang room assignment (Here, you will know where you will cast your vote. So, there will be a voter list here. Our teachers will help the voters to see where their room assignment is),” he said.
After that, the voter will now go to his or her assigned polling area. However, there will also be an emergency accessible polling place (EAPP) in the different voting centers. This specific area is for persons with disability, senior citizens, or heavily pregnant women.
“Hindi kayo papupuntahin sa mga classroom na medyo mahirap puntahan or may mga access challenges. Dito kayo papuntahin sa tinatawag nating emergency accessible polling place (You will not be led to classrooms that have access challenges. Instead, you will go to what we call the emergency accessible polling place),” said Jimenez.
Jimenez also said that different health protocols will be strictly implemented to prevent transmission of COVID-19.
“Iyan po ang pinaka walk-through ng ating simulation. Makikita niyo very logical ang pagkaka arrange nung polling place, very logical yung pagkaka set up ng iba’t-ibang areas katulad ng halimbawa ng voter assistance desk at isolation polling place (That is the walk-through of our simulation. You can see that the arrangement of the polling place is very logical. The set up of other areas like the voter assistance desk and isolation polling place are also very logical),” he said.
“So, sana po maging matagumpay ang ating simulation at makita natin lahat ng kailangan natin makita para mapaghandaan natin nang mas maigi ang darating na halalan (So, I hope our simulation will be successful and we will see everything we need to see so that we can better prepare for the upcoming election),” he added.