On Congestion – Advance Post on Comelec Res 8786 GI for BEI 183.0

Comelec proactively and innovatively designs VAC to help manage congestion
The Comelec inserted a new provision – a really creative one – in the updated Res 8786 to create a Voters Assistance Center (VAC) in each school to help manage congestion that is the main consequence of clustering.

In this automated election, congestion from clustering due to a limited budget that allowed the procurement of only one PCOS machine per five precincts is the twin problem to implementing technology change that has hogged the headlines the past few months.

Congestion is the bigger problem requiring more preparation because people-oriented; but fear of unknown technology held sway and had to be allowed to diffuse itself as people become more comfortable with the PCOS machine and its use.

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This is the implementation of the variously called “holding area” or “waiting lounge” by adding new provisions in Section 14 of Article I. The Board of Election Inspectors.

I have printed the pertinent new provision below from my copy of the final draft of Res 8786 updating the GI for the Board of Election Inspectors.

This is a much welcome development for which we will devote more discussions in later posts.

The Voters Assistance Center will be headed by the DepEd Supervising Official, presumably the Principal of the School, with appropriate staff.

This is a totally new function as the former role of the Principal was just to (a) safeguard any paraphernalia stored in the school for election, (b) hold the alphabetical list of voters for the school, and (c) quite important, endorse the list of BEI members to Comelec for payment of honoraria.

The work content need to be fleshed out some more hopefully in minute resolutions by the Comelec to update the GI.

For example, the old Principal’s role of keeping the alphabetical list of voters for all precincts may be maintained in this center to assist voters who cannot find their voting center. This can take a lot of congestion before the BEI table and the door of the clustered precincts and allow smooth voter flow by those who know their sequence number.

The VAC can also be the staging point for vulnerable voters like the elderly and the disabled before they are assisted to jump the queue at the clustered precinct room.

The most important of these new roles for the VAC Head that need to be defined better is:

b) Plan, organize and supervise the crowd management at the entrance areas of polling places;

Defining this better would greatly help manage the attempt that I expect that many local candidates will attempt to cheat before the autoamted PCOS machine (Click here for that claim made in previous Post.)by stuffing the voters’ queue before precincts that they expect weak performance.

Note that this is a potential flashpoint for violence because the opponent who is strong in this precinct is expected to defend that strength. Keeping this potential rowdies out of the polling area will help reduce this violence potential.

Hopefully, the additional detailed guidelines will include creating community-based watchdogs to work within the VAC under the Principal and in coordination with the Election Officer.

Please revisit SYNTHESiST for more quick updates on congestion management going into the elections.