Indelible Ink

I am so proud of myself for casting my vote successfully! I feel like I am part of history, a grownup! 
Yea, right.


As early as 7 in the morning, my father and I were already preparing to leave the house to find our precinct/stations and also watching the latest news about today's national and local elections. We left the house at around 7:30am and went straight to Ma-a Elementary School to look for our rooms. Fortunately, we were assigned at the same room. My mother was not with us because she went somewhere and of course, she wasn't able to vote. And so, the process went this way:
1. We had to wait inside a room, just beside the room where we're supposed to vote, to get our priority numbers. (1st batch: 1st 100 voters, 2nd batch: next 200, 3rd batch: this I don't know) My father and I got the 48th and 49th of the second batch.
2. We waited for about 2-3 hours from the time we were waiting to get our numbers up to the time our numbers got called.
3. Had to fall in line, by our numbers, to wait for our turn to enter the room for voting. Only 5-10 persons are served in a room.
4. At the classroom, we got our ballots, secrecy folder, and marker. We also had to introduce ourselves to the BEIs for them to know our identity and have us sign some papers. (my father asked the BEIs if he could take a picture of me being a first time voter, but unfortunately, they didn't allow us, it wasn't allowed. They just suggested that I take a picture of my finger with the ink, and even suggested a pose. hahaha)
5. Vote. Shade those very tiny oblongs beside the name of the candidate/partylist on the ballot.
6. Fed the ballot to the machine. (I wasn't able to see the CONGRATULATIONS greeting from the machine. Sad)
7. Put the thumbmark on some sheet with my picture on it. The picture is from the time I registered as a voter.
8. And lastly, my favorite part, had the BEI/comelec person put on some indelible ink on my index finger. And I was out of the classroom.


The whole process went for about 4 hours. And because the waiting area was also a classroom, I felt really, really sleepy and had to take a nap for a few minutes.


A few minutes before our turn to vote, my father and I were talking about being a 'bobovoter', a term we used for those voters who overvote, and those whose ballots which will be rejected by the machine (if there be any). So I was telling him what if my ballot won't be accepted, he just said that I'd be the first bobovoter and become famous because I'll be featured in the news and stuff like that. And we were laughing so hard.


It turned out that I became a BOBOVOTER after all. The watchers were laughing at me because after I counted the oblongs that I shaded for councilors, I found out that I shaded 9 when 8 or less were required, and told my father about it, that I am a bobovoter. They were all laughing while I was wearing a face which said oh-no!-I-wasted-my-vote-I-am-so-stooopid-I-wanna-cry-and-die. It was funny, I tried to imagine it. Haha!  Good thing they told me that only that part where I overvoted is the only part which won't be counted, what a relief. When I submitted my ballot to one of the BEIs, she just said 'nag overvote ka no?' and I answered yea, and she just smiled at me and said 'don't do it next time, ok?'.


My experience was really funny because I didn't expect it to happen knowing that I've prepared a list of candidates whom I'd be voting for. But my list had 9 for councilors in it, I blame my cellphone for this. :D But anyway, it was a happy one. Looking at my indelible ink makes me feel like a grownup, like I am part of history. OK, I was exaggerating.

There's my indelible ink. (watching it in delight :D)

My father with the finger, the wrinkly one. Haha,

with my sister who's a minor and mine, the smallest finger among the three.

Indelible ink! Hahahaha

I am so proud of myself for being able to vote, for being a BOBOVOTER, and my INDELIBLE INK!

Now I'm praying for the success of this elections. :)