THE Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) has extended the voting hours of online precincts after technical issues delayed the start of this year’s Central Student Council (CSC) elections.
Central Comelec Chair Franz Soriano told the Varsitarian that online precincts, where students can vote with the assistance of polling officials via Zoom, would now be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Thomasians can also cast their votes onsite at the Tan Yan Kee Student Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We [want to] accommodate the student voters kasi nga to vote is a right at hindi naman natutulog ang karapatan mo. So pwede kang bumoto,” he told the Varsitarian shortly after elections started on Nov. 13.
This year’s CSC elections have been postponed three times. Initially scheduled for Oct. 21 to 26, the polls were moved to Nov. 11 to 16 due to class suspensions.
However, classes were suspended again on Nov. 11 due to severe tropical storm “Nika.” The following day, when the Central Comelec expected to finally open the polls, Soriano said issues with the electronic voting system, botongtomasino.ust.edu.ph, arose.
According to Soriano, security concerns regarding network accessibility hindered them from opening the polls as scheduled. The Central Comelec was only granted access to the system on Wednesday afternoon.
Despite the delays, the Central Comelec plans to hold the Proklamasyon on Saturday as scheduled.
“Considering that we’ve started at the exact same time frame as the previous elections, we are expecting the same voter turnout ng previous elections kasi nasa parehas na time frame naman siya,” Soriano said.
“The voter turnout is not a priority of the commission,” he added. “Kasi ang voter turnout is a reflection of mainly one thing—political participation of our students.”
Soriano said local election bodies have the discretion to set their own voting schedules and setup.
Two Thomasians filed their candidacies for this year’s CSC elections: medical biology junior Meckia Villanueva for secretary and legal management sophomore Annie Agon for public relations officer.
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The voting period will end on Nov. 16. at 5 p.m., followed by the canvassing of votes and the proclamation of the new set of CSC officers during the Proklamasyon. with reports from Sydney Venice V. Berba
