Voted / Post Election Coverage

I exercised my right, for what it’s worth.

I must (somewhat embarrassingly) admit that I ended up voting for some people who I didn't want to vote for / wouldn't vote for IF I had better choices.

I was torn between voting for 12 people or just leaving the other spots blank (because I really am not convinced enough about the others). In the end, I forced myself to vote for 12. I went for "the lesser evil" ideology (I still don't know if this is a good thing) but I figured this right to vote is mine so I will just own it.

It is my right to make the stupid choices and my right to vote for the lost causes.

That is, I would rather that I make the stupid choices (at least they're my stupid choices) and not let other voters pick the remaining senators for me, which is what would happen if I don't make the choices myself and leave them blank. Get it? 

When you think about it, with only 33 choices, statistically each candidate has about 1 in 3 chances in getting in or about a 36% chance at being a senator. Factor in all the unknowns, the crazy ones, the "religious" ones, the trapos, the relatives of trapos... AND, there really isn't a lot of decent ones to choose from.

SIGH. 

Voted

Maybe it’s because I usually vote in the afternoon that I never have a hard time voting. (And, no, my precinct isn't one of those fancy private schools. It's a public school, albeit a big clean-looking one.)

This time, lines were still short and the people were still pleasant. The PCOS in our precinct actually worked. Overall, the experience was good enough.

On other things, when you get out of your car random people still hand you sample ballots. (I just take it, partly out of curiosity.)

But I don't know if I am just a fast walker but it just didn't seem like the spot where I was given these sample ballots was 30 mins away from the voting area. Apparently, I just found out, this is the rule. So, hmm?

Snapshots of some election paraphernalia:  

Talaga lang ha: She added HanepBuhay to her printed name?
Talaga lang: Ang laki ng font!
Not so alphabetical: #32 pero nasa taas
Wonder who funded the printing of this one? Any guesses?

I call this - a sample ballot with an identity crisis (OR is it's identity just Anti-LP?)

Post Election Coverage 

The night before the midterm election, I watched ANC’s kampanya serye documentaries, one about political dynasties and the other about a politician's imaging. I really enjoyed them. They were really so well made.

Must say, I am totally psyched about all the election coverage. Call me weird but I like watching all these analysts and industry people talking about their campaigns, strategy, sociological and survey analysis, statistics, observations, and overall thoughts on the election results. To me, at least, it’s like reality TV meets sociology and anthropology meets marketing meets politics.

But other than my weird penchant for weird reality TV, I am also glad that networks now have these types of programming as I believe they owe it to the people to actually give them something more than fluff when the occasion calls for it. 

Yes, I expect the networks to also make money and supply the people with other programming that are more for entertainment and ratings (because it is a business, after all) but during times like these, I hope the networks realize that it is their simple responsibility to keep the people informed.

I once talked to a TV network employee about this and it seemed to have shocked him that I was this passionate about their then soon to be launched news channel. So far though, I’m not too keen on all their programming, considering that they keep on saying their news program is a key selling point. BUT, it still is a good starting point. At least, these programs exist and they are now more accessible to the masses.