Get to polling precincts early, Legarda urges voters

“IF YOU DON’T WANT TO WASTE YOUR VOTE, GET TO THE POLLING PRECINCTS EARLY SO THAT EVERYONE HAS ENOUGH TIME TO CAST THEIR BALLOTS,” NP-NPC-LDP VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE LOREN LEGARDA SAID ON THURSDAY.
Legarda was reacting to a computer simulation study made by Kontra Daya, a multisectoral watchdog, that half of voters at every clustered precinct might not be able to vote in the May 10 polls for lack of time.
According to the study, polling personnel, despite computerization, might not be able to process all voters during the given voting hours, which is from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“I don’t know how accurate the study is, but it’s better to give everyone enough time,” Legarda said. “There are also fears that brownouts might disrupt the computerized polls, which I hope doesn’t happen. So let’s help the Comelec get everything processed in time. And by voting early you won’t give anyone who wants to rig the polls an excuse.”
The study was done by Prof. Giovanni Tapang of the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Physics. Tapang said he had simulated the voting process using a programming language software called Simulation in Python (SimPy).
By his calculation, Tapang said a voter must find his name on the list of voters within 15 minutes and have his identity verified by election inspectors within two-and-a-half minutes. Anything longer than that would mean a backlog.
“If he takes longer than this, chances are that the queue will pile up and not everyone will be able to vote,” Tapang said.