Comelec: Voting hours extended until 6 p.m. in areas that opened late

MANILA, Philippines — Voting will be extended for an hour in areas where polling precincts opened past 9 a.m, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

For other areas, the 5 p.m. deadline would still apply.

Voting hours extended up to 6pm in precints where voting started at 9am or later.

— COMELEC (@COMELEC) May 9, 2016

The firewall would be brought down at 6 p.m. so that it could start transmitting tallies, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) added.

Worries over disenfranchisement

The PPCRV on Monday also expressed worries over reports of disenfranchisement and urged voters to go to their precincts before the deadline. But this was before the Comelec announced the extension of voting hours on selected areas.

“If you want to vote make sure you’re there, para nandun kayo within 30 meters. At 5 o'clock if you’re within 30 minutes kukunin ang pangalan niyo and you will still be able to vote,” PPCRV Command Center Operations Head Ana de Villa-Singson said. 

Singson said the PPCRV is very concerned with the calls it got from people who reported anomalies.

According to her, she was able to talk over the phone with Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim about reports on vote counting machines (VCM) shutting down after getting fed 48 to 50 ballots.

Citing Lim, she said that the reason behind this was that the roll of thermal paper inside the machine has ran out. “If the roll of thermal paper runs out, it will really shut down.”

Regarding reports of some voters who failed to find their precincts, Singson said that this might be due to a change in their clustered precincts.

“In 2013, if you remember, 1,000 ang botante kada VCM. For 2016, para the lines will be shorter, they reduced the number to 800. Because they reduced to 800, ibig sabihin nag-shift rin ang mga precincts.”

To find out about your new precincts, voters can go to the voters assistance desk of PPCRV. — with a report from Rosette Adel