The November 2024 Central Student Council (CSC) elections was meant to be a platform for students to exercise their right to vote, but students from various colleges and faculties faced difficulties during the election process.

Third-year journalism student Andrei Gutierrez was dismayed that his voting schedule was canceled as he waited for 40 minutes in his assigned precinct on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Gutierrez said that the cancellation occurred “due to an emergency” involving the electoral body officers.

He expressed disappointment over the wasted time, noting that the delay affected their already tight schedule.

“Kasi after non (sic), may class din kaming hahabulin talaga, kaya sakto lang talaga yung time to vote,” he said.

As a result, their block had to reschedule their voting on Nov. 16, the last day of the voting period.

Similarly, Elisha, a political science student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters, encountered delays when their voting schedule overlapped with other block sections. They were redirected to another location instead of voting in the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building's eLeap room.

"[Based on] the schedule, we are assigned [from] 3:15 to 3:30 p.m.," she said. “Pero as of now, almost 20 minutes late, pinapunta na po kami dito because there is an ongoing election [at] nagbobotohan pa ang another section.”

COMELEC scheduled online elections via Zoom and open precinct elections, for those who missed their assigned schedules.

Online voting delays

Technical issues also disrupted the election process, causing significant delays, especially in online voting.

COMELEC Chairperson Franz Angelo Soriano explained security issues on the university network were the reason for the delays.

“Noong bubuksan na noong Monday evening, tsaka lang namin nalaman na mukhang hindi bubukas ‘yung system, ‘yung network, outside the campus,” Soriano said. “Kaya hindi mabuksan yung network was because of a security risk sa network ng university.” The voting period was initially scheduled on Monday, Nov. 11, but was delayed by two days due to this issue. This had pushed the start of the elections on Wednesday, Nov. 13, instead.

Students also reported that while the voting process was quick, website crashes frequently occurred during peak voting times.

"With my personal [experience], nagkaroon siya ng errors maybe because there's a lot of people entering the website," Elisha speculated.

Liana Ortega, a History student from AB, also shared the delays she experienced during their scheduled online voting.

Ortega said their supposed schedule was on Wednesday from 3:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. However, they received a message from the COMELEC saying that faculties and colleges cannot access the Electronic Voting System (EVoSys).

EVoSys is an application created by the UST Computer Science Society and Central Commission on Elections for a safe, secure, and reliable electronic voting system.

“Dahil po dito, ‘di kami nakapag vote and need namin mag reschedule,” she said.

Although the system issue was resolved by 3:25 p.m. on the same day, affected students were forced to reschedule their voting, causing significant inconvenience.

Absence of abstain button

Several students raised concerns about the absence of the 'abstain' option on the ballot, leaving many confused and concerned.

"[It's] very concerning that there is quite no choice to abstain, and at the same time, there are only two candidates," Elisha expressed.

According to Soriano, the abstain option had been removed from election ballots around 2017 or 2018 after a case was brought to the Central Judiciary Board (CJB). The CJB ruled that including an abstain option was unconstitutional as it was not specified in the CSC constitution.

“Sabi ng CJB, abstain is not contained in the CSC constitution kaya unconstitutional magkaroon ng abstain sa balota,” he explained.

The COMELEC chairperson further elaborated on the two options considered for ballots: unanswered or abstain.

Unanswered refers to ballots left blank, either due to the voter's choice not to vote or failure to complete the ballot. In contrast, an abstain option allows voters to actively express that they do not support any of the candidates.

“Some academic units have already included abstain sa kanilang constitutions or articles of associations. Pero sa CSC kasi, di pa siya na-aammend, so wala pang revision at hindi pa rin na-aadd,” he said.

Lack of communication

Faculty of Engineering students voiced their dismay over poor communication between students and election organizers, particularly regarding candidate introductions.

"We were given little to [no] time to introduce two of the candidates in our faculty; that's why most of the students are unaware of the situation," engineering student Reich Tagle said.

Tagle also described the voting process as hectic, with constant delays caused by a lack of coordination among organizers.

In response to the issues and complaints, Soriano encouraged students to raise issues directly with Central COMELEC so they could address them promptly.

"Sana i-raise sa Central para ma-address namin agad, lalo na kung galing ito sa local COMELEC unit, kasi they have the autonomy to do whatever or to proceed with what they see as the best-fitting procedure para sa local unit nila," he said.

He assured students that the Central COMELEC would investigate the complaints, adding, "ang trabaho naman namin dito is to ensure that students get their opportunity to vote." – Paolo Cootauco, with reports from Celine Ashley Tabunda, Johann Coronel, Krsna Parado