Contrary to what some people think, voting using the automated electoral system is actually easy.

For the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), it only involves 10 easy steps:

• Step 1 – Look for your name, precinct number, and sequence number at the Posted Computerized Voters’ List (PCVL).
• Step 2 – Go to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) assigned in the precinct for personal identity verification. Bring valid ID for this.
• Step 3 – After his or her identity is verified, the name of the voter will be read out loud. The BEI will then check the finger of the voter for traces of indelible ink. If none was found, the BEI chairman will sign the Election Day Computerized Voters’ List (EDCVL) as well as the official ballot.
• Step 4 – The BEI chairman will give the voter the ballot placed inside a ballot secrecy folder together with marking pen that will be used in voting.
• Step 5 – The voter will be asked to sign the EDCVL.
• Step 6 – Fill out the ballot by fully shading the oval beside the names of the candidates and party-list group of his or her choice. Do not over-vote.
• Step 7 – Insert the ballot in the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine.
• Step 8 – Check if one vote was added in the vote count indicator located on the right side below the PCOS screen.
• Step 9 – Return the secrecy folder and marking pen to the BEI chairman.
• Step 10 – The BEI chairman will apply indelible ink on the right forefinger nail of the voter. The voter will then be instructed to affix his or her thumb mark in the space provided for in the EDCVL.

“It’s (voting) that easy unlike before when you need to write the name of the candidate on the ballot,” Ambassador Henrietta de Villa said in an earlier interview.

The guide is being distributed to voters as part of the voters’ education campaign of the PPCRV.

The PPCRV is the Catholic Church’s poll watchdog and the citizens arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

As this developed, the National Social Action Council (Nasac), the newly accredited citizen’s arm of the Comelec, appealed to all candidates to practice voters in correctly accomplishing their ballots so that their votes will be counted by the PCOS machines.

“They may vote for you on Election Day but if they make a mistake in filling up their ballots, their votes for you may not be counted,” Nasac director Michael Aragon told the Manila Bulletin.

“Only by actually giving him a sample ballot before Election Day and repeatedly asking him to practice voting can he be assured that comes Election Day his vote will be counted” he added.

Meanwhile, Lakas-Kampi-CMD senatorial candidate and multi-awarded broadcaster Rey Langit urged the Comelec to ensure that “how to vote” instructions be posted inside all polling precincts to prevent voters from being disenfranchised due to voting errors.

Langit said the instruction materials will be of big help to voters who will use the PCOS machines for the first time as the country embarks on the first ever nationwide automated elections.

“I believe that there are some voters, especially in far-flung areas, who are not familiar with computers so we should expect that they would certainly be at a loss on what to do on election day,” said Langit.

“It is on this matter that voting instructions telling voters how to shade properly and reminding them not to over vote will play a key role,” he added.

Under the rule, each voter is entitled only to one ballot which means that he automatically loses his right to suffrage the moment he commits some mistakes due to the sensitivity of the PCOS machines.