Monday, April 30, 2007

Double chalk

There are, of course, wholesale electoral fraud.
But let us start with the cheating in the precint level.
When we say precint it is like the police precinct---small quarters where the voters will actually go to physically cast their votes.
Precincts are usually in the public school buildings, different rooms, different precincts.
If you are a voter, you look for your name in the different precincts so you will know what precinct you will cast your vote.
Be wary of the "double chalk".
This type of cheating is simple.
Counters use chalk to list the votes in the blackboard.
One election inspector reads the ballot aloud. Another inspector correspondingly writes, or more appropriately, tallies the votes read.
But sometimes, the chalk is sliced thinly in the middle, so that unknown to the watchers, each stroke of the chalk on the blackboard will write or list down not one, but two votes at the same time.
The votes in the blackboard are group into "boxes" of five votes. In Visayan the counter shouts "kahon" (box) everytime the votes for a candidate reaches five.
At the end, the counter will just count the number of boxes multiplied by five.
It would be quick to form "boxes" of five votes by the double chalk scheme.

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