Precinct Vote Guard

Countrymen:

How do we guard our votes? At the precinct level, here are the important reminders and safeguards:

1. Make sure that the chairperson of the BEI positions himself/herself with her back on the watchers who must be able to see every ballot he/she is reading/appraising.

2. Make sure that the tallying of votes in the election returns by the Poll Clerk and at the Tally Board by the Third Member are made in full view not only of the watchers but of the general public

The ballots will be read one by one, in bundles of a hundred each. As each vote is announced, the poll clerk and the third member shall record simultaneously in the election returns and the tally board. Tallies are made by a vertical line for every vote and a diagonal line for every fifth vote.

3. As the counting of votes is normally done at night, make sure that every voting precinct is well lighted. Prepare emergency lighting in case of brown outs.

4. At the end of the counting, make sure that votes tallied are summarized correctly.

5. Get the serial number of the following: a. Election Returns b. Self-locking fixed-length seal

6. Wait for the BEI to complete the accomplishment of Election Returns and Certificates of Votes. Do not leave the polling place until the members of the BEI leaves to transmit the election returns to the municipal/city/ hall.

7. Copy the results in your precinct. Get the number of votes per candidate and add all the votes per position so you can compare these with the tally at the municipal / city level.
The control totals per position are important in conducting an audit of votes at the next level of canvassing.

These are the steps we can take to guard our votes at the precinct level. Next time, I will write about protecting our votes at the municipal / city/ provincial canvassing level.

Hope this helps us all.

For a clean and dignified election,
Dan Adan