Janvic Mateo | Kalasag | 02-24-10 | 1:54 PM

Delays in SC Elections in CAL
Janvic Mateo | Kalasag | 02-24-10 | 1:54 PM

The College of Arts and Letters (CAL) voting precinct accommodated only seven students in the morning of the student council elections due to delays caused by late precinct opening and system malfunction.

CAL Administrative Officer Joel San Jose said that the CAL Computer Laboratory (CAL 306) was already set up for the computerized elections before 8 AM, the supposed opening time of the precinct, but failed to open on time. “Na-late ng dating yung technician

na may dala ng passwords kaya hindi agad nagbukas,” he said.

Lope Beltran, election technical team member assigned to CAL, explained that he first went to the Office of Student Activities (OSA) to retrieve certain materials, causing the delay. The CAL voting precinct officially opened at 9 AM.
System Malfunction
Thirty minutes after opening – with only seven students accommodated – the voting in CAL was shut down for two hours due to problems with the DilNet connection. Betran said that the DilNet antenna of the CAL computer lab was malfunctioning.
CAL Assistant Secretary and College Electoral Board member Errol Agustin said that OSA director Oscar Ferrer

personally went to CAL to look for alternatives. “Buti napapayag ang (CAL) library na ilipat dun ang botohan,” Agustin added.
The voting was temporarily moved to CAL

library at 11:30 AM with only two computers allotted for the elections.
Professor Eugene Evasco of the Filipino Depart

ment noted that the computers will not suffice the number of students. “Dapat ibalik nalang sa manual,” he added.
CAL Student Council Chairperson Jinky Joy Dela Cruz was dismayed with the delays. She said that many students wh

o wanted t

o vote were turned down. “Sayang yung oras. Malaki ang tendency na yung mga boboto ng 10 to 11:30 ay hindi na bumalik dahil yun lang ang break nila,” she added.

The voting on CAL computer laboratory – with nine computers functional computers – was restored before 1 PM. The voting will end at 7 PM. “Titignan natin kung marami pang nakapila ma

maya at kung mae-extend natin,” Agustin said.
As of 3:40 PM, CAL voter’s turn-out is 295, around 24 percent of the total number of voters of the college (1239).