Comelec: Persons with COVID-19 symptoms may vote in isolation polling places

Isolation polling places (IPP) were set up for voters who will show COVID-19 symptoms as part of precautionary measures on May 9 elections, according to Maki Pulido’s “24 Oras” report on Friday.

The Department of Education (DepEd) said safety officers will be in charge of getting their ballots inside the IPP.

There will be no vote counting machines inside the IPP and the ballots will all be collected before being fed in the vote counting machines (VCM).

The voters with COVID-19 symptoms will also need to sign waiver forms because they will not be able to get a receipt after voting.

“Ang lahat po ng mga balota ng may sakit o lagnat ay iipunin yan ng IPP staff at ihuhulog lang yan doon sa presinto na may VCM before the closing hours ng 7 p.m.,” DepEd director Marcelo Bragado said.

(All ballots for persons with COVID-19 symptoms will be collected by the IPP staff and will only be dropped off at the precinct with VCM before the closing hours of 7 p.m.)

“Yung envelope mo, pagkatapos mong botohan, pagkatapos mong i-shade, ‘yan ay ilalagay sa expandable envelope at hindi ‘yan puwede buksan. Pagkatapos ng botohan sa EAPP at IPP, ibabalik iyan kung saan sila nanggaling,” lawyer Rona Caritas, executive director of LENTE, said.

(Their envelopes, after being shaded, will be placed in an expandable envelope and it cannot be opened. After voting on EAPP and IPP, it will be returned to where they came from.)

There will be designated safety officers in polling precincts that monitor those who will violate the health protocols including those who will not wear facemasks.

“’Yan yung isang challenge natin ngayon with the COVID protocols that we will be implementing talagang mahabaan ang pila, we would try to impose the health protocols of one meter distance,” DepEd Undersecretary Alain Del Pascua said.

(That is a challenge we face now, with the COVID protocols that we will be implementing, there will be long queues, we will try to impose the health protocols of one meter distance.)

The poll body earlier said that it is anticipating around 67.5 million people — or 60% of the country's 112 million population — to go to polling precincts to cast their votes on May 9.—Richa Noriega/LDF, GMA News