Morning of Election Day on Monday did not proceed well for many seniors and persons with disabilities (PWDs), who discovered that there were no vote counting machines (VCMs) in the senior voting areas, and if there were, the machines broke down early.

Here are personal accounts of Filipinos in their 70s who went out to exercise their right to vote. Their real names are being withheld to protect their privacy.

At Precinct 5277A in Barangay Valencia, Cluster 1167, early voters like Diana were told that the VCM was not working and a chip had to be sent to Santa Rosa City in Laguna. They could return at 3 p.m. or, as another option, fill out their ballots and leave these at the precinct. “I’m going back at 3 p.m.,” said Diana. “Who are they kidding?”

The VCM at Precinct 640A in Barangay Pilar, Las Pinas City conked out after Grace’s husband’s ballot was counted and when it was her turn. “They tried it out with four others and the ballots all could not be read. I think we all voted for the same candidate,” she said. “Still waiting for them to get another machine.”

At Precinct 3216A in Quirino High School, Barangay 608, Manila, Vivian said, “the VCM is not working and there is no machine in the seniors’ area.” No one could tell them when it would be replaced, she said, and meanwhile, the queue was getting ever longer: “Grabe na ang pila.”

At Barangay Greenhills, Belle noticed that “receipts of votes were put in ordinary boxes, unlike in previous elections when padlocked ballot boxes were used.” This was seconded by Grace in Las Pinas and Tita in Precinct 0489a.

Leave ballots?

Tita’s situationer: “No one’s fixing the printer. Voters still being told to leave their ballots after voting. Voters still waiting. No ETA of technician. Why are there repeated instructions to leave ballots?”

Meanwhile, a video supposedly recorded in Calbayog City is going around showing how seniors are being given a sheet of paper to sign, stating that they are entrusting their ballots to the barangay chair with no need for a receipt, “so that they don’t have to wait too long.”

“I see they targeted senior citizens. They went with the script: Kung ayaw nyo po maghintay ng matagal, iiwan nyo na po samin ang balota nyo,” reads the text in the video.

At Mababang Paaralan ng San Juan, Rio said there was no queue in the ground-floor senior area but because there was no VCM, her husband had to go up to the third floor to feed their ballots into the machine himself. 

“Good that my husband is still strong,” Rio said. “Many other seniors were just by themselves and had to rely on runners to put their ballots in the machine.”

At Precinct 3919A in Quirino Elementary School in East Kamias, Quezon City, Lorraine reported how the elderly bristled at the enforced procedure and  refused to bend to it: “Seniors and PWDs were herded to a first-floor facility, but when we found out there is no VCM to accept our ballots and issue our receipts, and that volunteers would just bring the ballots, nag-alma ang mga matatanda. We trooped to our original precinct even if we had to go to the second floor in another building.” 

Similar incidents were reported in Cebu.

Rejected 6 times

At Precinct 0903A, Cluster 321, in Wack Wack La Salle Greenhills, prayer saved Esme’s morning, as she reported: “The machine rejected my ballot six times! Then they asked the one behind me to feed hers into the machine. The same thing happened. And then the ballots were accepted. I was praying aloud, as were the watchers!”

And this was the way things unfolded in various parts of Metro Manila on Election Day, in the most crucial electoral exercise since Filipinos toppled the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986.