A Longer Election Day

By James Jimenez

A quick read-through of the Commission on Elections’ recently published General Instructions (GI) for the Electoral Boards on the Process of Voting, Counting, and Transmission of Election Results for the 12 May 2024 National and Local Elections and Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections reveals that Election Day 2025 will start earlier than you think.

Early Voting Hours

Up until 2022, Election Day officially kicked off at 7AM. Unofficially however, the teachers manning the Electoral Board – which used to be called the Board of Election Inspectors – start their election day duties at around 3AM. That’s when all the Electoral Boards gather at the municipal treasurer’s office to get their election supplies. It’s a long-ish process that involves double-checking that they’re receiving all the supplies they need, that the supplies themselves are in proper order, and – hopefully not – having to wait around for delayed deliveries or replacements. All told, the Electoral Boards will have begun travelling to their precinct assignments by around 5 o’clock and at their stations by 6.

Once there, they’ll spend the hour getting the polling place prepped. Laying out election paraphernalia, sticking up signs – including computerized voters lists – and just basically doing the hundred and one things needed to bring the polling place to a state of readiness. And then at 7, the people start coming.

Not so, next year.

Section 24 of the GI reads: “The early voting hours shall be from five o’ clock in the morning (5:00 AM) to seven o’ clock in the morning (7:00 AM), which shall be devoted exclusively for persons with disability, senior citizens, including their assistors, if any, and pregnant voters. The assistors may also be allowed to vote during this time, provided that they are registered voters of the same polling place.”

Awesome, not so awesome

This is not the first time the COMELEC has ever gone this far to provide a special accommodation for vulnerable voters – persons with disability (PWDs), senior citizens (SCs), and pregnant women – and make no mistake about it, this rule is awesome for them.

Getting this early start means they get to avoid the long queues, the discomfort from waiting in the heat, and the general chaos that always comes when hundreds, even thousands, of people congregate for any reason. For these vulnerable voters who come to the polling places at 5AM, they get 2 solid hours of exclusive access. Like I said, awesome.

But I imagine it won’t be so awesome for the teachers who make up the Electoral Boards, the people who support them, and the people who are in charge of the Voting Center – called the DESOs, or the Department of Education Supervising Officer (in the Bangsamoro, the equivalent title is the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education Supervising Officer, although I suspect MBHTSO is never going to catch on).

Moving the start time of the elections 2 full hours earlier will mean that everything else that has to happen before the said start time has to be bumped up earlier as well. While this may not sound so bad, keep in mind that the election day is likely to run well past 7PM.

Stragglers

The GI says: “Voters who have not yet cast their votes but are within the thirty (30)-meter radius in front of the polling place by seven o’ clock in the evening (7:00 PM) of Election Day shall still be allowed to cast their votes.”

This will be accomplished by the Poll Clerk – the second member of the Electoral Board –preparing a complete list (in duplicate!) of all the straggling voters, numbered consecutively. The listed voters will then be called on, one by one, to vote. If they don’t come when called, they essentially waive their right to vote.

This whole process of letting stragglers still exercise their right to vote can – and has, on occasion – drag well past 8PM. Considering that the Electoral Board will have been up since around 2AM, this means that the teachers on the Board would be on their 18^th hour straight! Not awesome at all.

Appreciation

The early start for the 2025 National and Local Elections highlights the COMELEC’s commitment to inclusivity by providing a more accessible voting experience for persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and pregnant women.

This two-hour exclusive window, though undeniably beneficial to these vulnerable voters, also brings significant challenges, particularly for the people charged with ensuring the success of election day. The new schedule demands earlier preparation and a longer, more strenuous day for the Electoral Boards, the DESOs, and all the other supporting staff, whose responsibilities may extend well into the late evening. Thankfully, going by my nearly two decades worth of experience with the COMELEC, I have absolutely no doubt that the teachers and other election workers will step up and pull through. They always have, and they always will.