Pregnant women, seniors and PWDs allowed to vote outside assigned precincts

An elderly woman was allowed to cast her vote outside of her assigned precinct in Guadalupe, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JOSE SANTINO S. BUNACHITA)

SOME senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and pregnant women were allowed to vote outside their assigned precincts in Cebu City.

In Abellana National School, which caters to voters of Barangays Sambag 1 and Sambag 2, at least 20 voters were allowed to vote outside the precincts at 11 am today.

“It’s a special case. Like for those who are having difficulty in going up to the second or third floor. We assigned a place to where they can vote,” Abellana National School principal Severina Chin said.

She also showed Cebu Daily News a copy of Commission on Elections (Comelec) No. 10108 promulgated just last April 29 that allows emergency accessible polling places (EAPP) for senior citizens, PWDs and pregnant women whose assigned precincts are located two or more floors up.

In Abellana, the area assigned for the EAPP is just outside the principal’s office on the ground floor.

A member of the board of election inspectors (BEIs) would go the assigned precinct of the concerned voter and get his or her ballot and marker and bring these to the EAPP.

Guardians are allowed to fill out the ballot in case the voter has difficulty doing so.

After filling out the ballot, the BEI will bring back the ballot to the precinct to be fed into the vote counting machine (VCM) accompanied by the voter’s guardian in order to check the accuracy of the vote receipt.

The BEI then goes back to the EAPP to put indelible ink on the voter’s finger.  The same was also implemented in Guadalupe Elementary School when Cebu Daily News visited the area this morning.

Under the approved Comelec resolution, the EAPP should consist of makeshift tents. But these were not followed in the two schools. The voters were made to fill out their ballots in open areas.