The future is bleak. How can I convince myself to vote?

The future is bleak. How can I convince myself to vote?

Theoretically, they should not be about clowns and jokers. Elections are not about merry making and empty promises. They are about the future. We once believed that the future depends on the decision that one makes during elections.

Elections help in the formation of mature citizens. They serve as springboard for change. They are important in the life of our nation. They protect our future and the future of our children. These are the things we have learned in schools. Unfortunately, these are mere textbooks edicts.

Dynastico-personalist, this characterizes the Philippine elections. Philippine elections have become a playground for political clans to perpetuate their self-interest. They have become irrelevant to the lives of ordinary citizens as nothing really significant happens in the situations of the poor after elections. Our elections have become farcical.

And of course, there are serious questions about the capability and reliability of the PCOS machines which will secure and count our votes in the coming election. Undoubtedly, the PCOS hardware and technology are beyond the reach of an average legal mind. However, there are many reasons why even the less average mind would not trust the PCOS machines. Serious questions have been ventilated against the use of these machines which were criticized as insecure in the 2010 elections. But the COMELEC has been dodging these questions. It has continued with the disabling of the basic security features which Republic Act 9369 requires for automated elections.

Section 19 of Republic Act 9369 requires that the Board of Election Inspectors and Board of Canvassers should affix their digital signatures in the election returns and the certificate of canvas before the electronic transmission of these documents. However, the COMELEC has done away with the affixing of these digital signatures in the 2010 elections. Also, it has done away with the use of the ultra-violet scanner which is required under Sec. 13 of R.A.  9369. Sadly, these security features remain disabled despite the calls for their enabling or restoration for the coming 2013 elections.

Moreover, there are now serious discussion about the inaccuracies and malfunctioning of PCOS machines, the poor quality of the security systems set up or used by COMELEC and the Smartmatic, and the admission by the COMELEC itself that the source code for these machines has not arrived from abroad because of the legal disputes between the Smartmatic and its partner. Despite of the publicity of these concerns, election officials continue to ignore the calls for a more transparent and reliable election and canvassing system.

With these concerns in mind, I could not convince myself to vote on May 13, 2013. I feel that I could no longer delude myself into thinking that the coming election will be different.

They say that we are obliged to exercise our constitutional right to vote because the fate of future generations depends on it. However, such an obligation is not a perfunctory one. It is moral, not a legal, obligation. As such, it should be heeded with discernment. Because of this, I am yet to convince myself to vote. And I fear that I would not be able to convince myself to vote. I fear that my vote will help legitimize a high-tech wholesale electoral fraud. I fear that my vote will be used as deodorant to a foul-smelling oppressive system that keeps people poor and hopeless. I fear that by voting I will be surrendering my rights and conscience to machines which, if not likely to malfunction, would display statistics that I could not trust and reconcile. I fear, and as such, I am yet to convince myself to vote.