After 5 hours of waiting in line for my turn to vote I can finally say I've done my part in this presidential election. To think that we have Smartmatic or automated machines to process our votes and yet it took 5 hours, almost on the dot, for me to cast my vote!!! What's wrong with this picture? 😠
While waiting in line I of course browsed through social media to check on my friends who were also voting early in their areas. Some of them finished in more than an hour, others 2 hours but 5 hours? Can you imagine how many things I could have done in that time? Ugh. I could have written an article actually but no I wasn't feeling like doing anything productive because I haven't even eaten breakfast yet!
Assuming it would be like the 2016 presidential elections, I went to the voting precinct without eating anything or even drinking water. I just woke up, put on some face powder and changed clothes then out the door I went.
I didn't bring any umbrella or whatever except a pen, my phone and my "cheatsheet" of the list of the candidates I would vote for. Hey it was just a 2 minute walk to where I had to vote. Oh but nooooo. 😂
Hello to this line at 7:23 am. Goodness gracious. I woke up around 7 in the morning and even thought of going late but good thing I didn't because look what happened! I spent hours waiting for my turn just to shade those circles on the ballot! Grrrr!
When you're hungry, you get hangry too! WTF kind of election is this... Ugh.
The only good thing that happened was, a barangay (district/village) kagawad (councilor who assisted me once regarding my complaint about the noisy chickens), gave me a banana.
Well he was always bumping into me for some reason while I was in the non-moving line. I was getting annoyed because I wanted to eat but had to stay in line and then suddenly he was there almost beside me, talking loudly with someone across from us instead of him going to the person. Then when he went nearer to that someone he bumped into my elbow. Ugh.
That's when he suddenly gave me a banana because he said he knows I'm hungry. Well they were busy eating/snacking with the other people in charge during this election so thanks a lot for sharing! Am still annoyed at the long waiting time though.
No picture because I ate it after a few minutes of getting it. Haha. Just think of a yellow banana that's not too small and not big enough either.
Why did it take five hours for me to vote? Hey don't ask me who the smart people are that decided to confuse everybody. One time they were calling out names because the voting cluster number is empty. I mean, come on, the line was soooo long and yet they will prioritize empty clusters? WTH? They should have started fixing the line as soon as people started lining up.
Well of course the senior citizens are prioritized to vote too. With only 10 people allowed inside the voting area imagine why it takes people 5 hours in line just to be able to vote.
People should have written down their chosen candidates before even coming to the voting area too. That's also one cause of delay for others to vote quickly. How disappointing this election is compared to the last one. This is actually just my 2nd time to vote in the major elections.
I remember years ago when I already reached the minimum voting age, I did not get to exercise my right because I didn't know any better. I registered as a voter back then to also get an ID but never voted for anyone until 2016.
Comparing my experience then and now, I consider today the worst election ever. In 2016 it was pretty fast. Just a few minutes and we were done! Okay fine let's blame it on the pandemic but heck it shouldn't have taken people 5 hours just to be able to vote for government officials! How disappointing. 🙄
On top of that I kept reading about some machines failing in other precincts and cheaters telling people to leave their ballots to be submitted once machines are ok. Wow. The audacity of people who sold their principles for money.
By the third hour I was finally able to get an empty plastic chair to sit on. Thank God. I dragged it along the line whenever it rarely moved. While waiting, I saw some people already posted pics of their index finger with indellible ink. Egads. Lucky you.
And then I also still can't help but wonder why the government allowed the children of the dictator and plunderers back into government office. We Filipinos are too kind that's why we are even being abused by our own people. There are still many who are unaware of their atrocities because they have believed in the fake news they learned way back when.
How can this not be the worst election ever when many people have become enemies because of their choice for president? So disappointing to see the online fights that have been happening since the campaign period started. I'm not surprised but it's sad that it has even reached this point.
By the time I was almost near the entrance of the voting place some people in line have already disappeared. The two people in front of me probably left. Others in different parts of the line for sure have seen people suddenly disappear. Lol.
Actually I almost wanted to leave too but I just stayed and bore the annoying waiting while hungry game. I'm really glad I got to eat even just a little banana otherwise I would have left and come back in the afternoon, maybe.
Anyway since I posted about my experience on my social media account, I learned that in some areas they are still in line up to now! Like more than 7 hrs due to machine problems! And then someone commented on my post that in 2020 US elections people spent 11 hours in line. Well sure compare apples to oranges. But I will compare it to my past experience and it was never like this.
Even if you say there's a pandemic, are you kidding me? People weren't minding the distance from each other while we were in line! The time of physical distancing is already past in people's minds!
If this election turns out for the worst I will leave the country for good. I will not live in a nation that has stooped so low as to voting someone from the most corrupt and notorious family in the country.
In Samar province, vote buying is blatant according to online posts. People are said to be brought to hotels. That's if they accepted the vote-buying money (as high as P20,000 or around $388!) to vote for the "most popular presidentiable candidate". Once election time comes they would be accompanied to vote and if they did not vote for Marcos, Jr., and other candidates in their party then their family members will die, or something. Good old days like during the candidate's father's time huh?
Many people have complete disregard to the 10 Commandments of God despite going to church and praying! Fake news and immorality is what it is. Values education is really lacking these days, perhaps the same as 2,000 years ago when the people chose a thief over Jesus. What barbaric behavior when it's already 2022. 🤮
Whatever the case I know my presidential candidate Ka Leody doesn't have enough chance to win but I hope whoever wins really deserves it. If the 10 commandments jackpot violator wins as president then all hope is lost for my country.
Anyway how about your experience? Hope it was better than mine.
XOXO,
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All photos are mine except for the banana pic from Unsplash.
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Five hours? Omg! Ours was just 2 hrs although we did experience unorganized lines(2 lines for 2 precincts were merging) and we are directly exposed to the harsh sun. I let mama rest because she has commorbidity and just drink lots of water.