my country's first automated elections

I have heard a lot of criticisms, fallbacks and nasty comments on the Philippines' first attempt of a nationwide automated elections. PCOS machines that don't work, inadventently exchanged ballots of two precints, no organized system on handling voters (other precints distributed priority numbers, others color-coded cards and others nothing at all), impatiend and very rude voters, and what really sucks are those voters who decided to go home and chose not to exercise their constitutional right. What a shame to them all.

But despite all these things, many chose to ignore the heat of the sun, the long and winding lines, and the uncertainty on the new voting process. On some areas of the country, BEIs on those precints even allowed the voters to vote beyond the scheduled time. I have seen on the tv that even until dawn there are precints where voting was still on-going (because they started in the afternoon because of some valid reasons). And I admire those voters on that precint who were patient enough to fall in line and waited for their turn to vote (though most of them were sleepy, pity on those old folks). Comelec reported a 75% turnout of voters which was fair enough to determine our new set of leaders.

Many were thrilled on the new experience of shading ovals on their ballots. They said, it felt like they were taking a board exam. Even my reaction when my ballot was fed on the PCOS machine was quite shamefully childish. ;')   I am so delighted when the machine read 'Congratulations! Your vote is successfully registered.' (Was that correct? I am not sure, really.)

I pray and I hope that we will all unite and support our new set of leaders. Finally, I wish for peace and financial recovery of my beloved country, the Philippines.