Election Day – May 9, 2016 started generally peaceful and orderly as “early birds” part of the 798,768 registered voters in Bohol that trooped to their respective precincts with senior citizens arriving as early as 5:30 in the morning.

Teachers who are members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI”s) started unpacking the vote counting machines (VCM’s) after the arrival of representatives of accredited political parties serving as witnesses to the proceedings.

The 1,546 VCM’s were sealed and tested on May 6, 2016 and was re-opened at 6:00 this morning, May 9, 2016 in the 1,546 clustered precincts located in the 1,066 polling centers in the 1,109 barangays in Bohol.

One VCM is configured to received and record 900 to 1,000 ballots per clustered precints.

A clustered precinct is composed of an average six to seven precincts with one VCM and a three man BEI.

Voters took an average eight minutes to complete the whole voting process from the receipt of their ballots up to the dropping of the voter’s receipt as noted by DYRD Balita in clustered precinct No. 9 with 797 registered voters located at the Bohol Island State University (BISU), Tagbilaran campus.

The newest feature of the VCM is the voter’s receipt which was ordered by the Supreme Court to be included in the election documents will verify if the VCM accurately recorded votes as shaded by the voters.

The voter’s receipt, which is considered an election document will remain in a separate box and is prohibited to be brought outside the polling center.

Initial reports received by DYRD Balita showed that minor glitches were experienced by voters mostly complaining about the names in the voter’s list that were not legible.

Voting started at 6:00AM and will end at 5PM today, May 9, 2016. (Chito M. Visarra)