Palawan plebiscite: Manual counting revisited and Covid-proofing exercise

“Pumapayag ka ba na hatiin ang probinsya ng Palawan sa tatlong (3) probinsya na papangalanang: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental at Palawan del Sur alinsunod sa Batas Republika Bilang 11259?”

CITIZENS of voting age in 23 municipalities in the province of Palawan will troop to voting precincts on March 13, 2021 as provided for in Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution 10687 to respond to the above question if they agree or not to splitting their province into three. Residents of Puerto Princesa City will not participate in the plebiscite.

Under the same Comelec resolution, voting will be manual, using write-in ballots, meaning voters will write down their responses to the question. A voter will write a “Yes” or “Oo” if he or she agrees to split the province into three, or the voter will write down a “No” or “Hindi” if he or she does not want the province to be split into three. Simple, right? But the results of the voting will impact heavily on the future of Palawan and its residents.

The counting of votes will be done manually and in public after the close of voting on Plebiscite Day. The reading of the ballots and recording of the votes in the tally board and the plebiscite returns will be done in full view of watchers and interested members of the public. The members of the electoral board, called PlebCom for purposes of the plebiscite, are to position themselves in a manner that provides an unimpeded view of the ballot being read and the recording of the vote in the tally board and the plebiscite returns.

In other words, the reading, recording and counting of votes will be done in full transparency with watchers, observers and interested parties understanding the process.

Not like the automated election system where the reading, recording and counting of votes is done by a black box called a vote counting machine, leaving watchers, observers and interested parties not able to see the process.

It has been argued that transparency measures have been put in place. And, of course, it can always be argued that the reading, recording and counting of the plebiscite votes is a lot simpler since it involves the reading of a “Yes” or “No” vote than having to read at least 30 names on a ballot during the national and local elections.

The counterargument, however, is that transparency measures are not the same as transparency, and that the reading, recording and counting of votes is done inside the minute circuits of the vote counting machine, hidden from view. Moreover, only a few technically skilled individuals understand how the machines are programmed. This raises doubt in the minds of watchers and observers. Was the vote properly read? Was it properly recorded? Was it properly counted?

To erase these doubts, there has been a call for an alternative automated election system, or a hybrid election system, that features manual voting, computer-assisted counting of votes, electronic transmission of results, and automated canvassing and consolidation.

A manual count of the votes is participatory in nature. It allows watchers and observers to raise questions on how a particular ballot is appreciated by the chairman of the electoral board, previously known as board of election inspectors or BEI. After all, participation is one feature of a democratic exercise like elections.

The plebiscite was supposed

to have been held on the second Monday of May 2020 in accordance with Republic Act 11259, or “An Act Dividing the Province of Palawan Into Three (3) Provinces, namely: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental and Palawan del Sur.” but was postponed due to quarantine measures implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plebiscite will serve as a preparatory exercise for the 2022 national and local elections in the likely event that the current pandemic conditions go beyond the second Monday of May 2022.

Health and safety protocols have been prescribed in the Comelec Resolution No. 10687 during the different stages of the plebiscite, starting from the information campaign, preparation of the voting precincts, voting on plebiscite day, counting of the votes, and canvassing and consolidation of vote results by the municipal plebiscite board of canvassers and the provincial plebiscite board of canvassers.

For instance, a medical personnel is to be assigned in each voting center to conduct temperature checks on voters at the entrance to the voting center. Voters registering less than 37.5 degrees Celsius will be given a clearance by the medical personnel to proceed to his voting precinct. A voter registering a temperature greater than 37.5 degrees Celsius after two readings will be escorted to the isolation polling place where he can cast his vote.

The wearing of face mask and face shield, hand sanitization, observance of physical distancing, completion of Covid-19 selfdeclaration form, use of foot baths, frequent disinfection of venues of plebiscite-related activities, and observance of respiratory etiquette are among the practices prescribed under the Comelec resolution.

The electoral exercises held in other countries certainly provided lessons on how to conduct the exercise amid pandemic conditions.

The Palawan plebiscite will certainly provide a view of how the 2022 national and local elections will be conducted. It also provides an opportunity to look back on the conduct of manual elections. It is important to draw lessons from the coming exercise.