Why she voted for a dead man

WHEN Lourdes (not her real name) cast her vote last Monday, she knew she had voted for a candidate who had died before Election Day.

At least in Lourdes’ case, her vote for Roy Señeres, who passed away last Feb. 8, was a none-of-the-above type of vote.

“I did not like any of the five (presidential candidates) so I voted for a dead person,” the 40-year-old legal assistant explained.

Despite the Señeres family’s petition to remove his name from the ballot, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had gone ahead and printed the  ballots in February with the original official list of candidates—which included Señeres.

Lourdes was among the 24,541 voters—and counting—who shaded the name  Señeres.

Lourdes said she did not want to skip voting for a President because she feared her ballot might not be read.

“Since his (Señeres) name was still there, I thought, why not him? I felt I would be wasting my vote more if I had voted for any of the other candidates,” Lourdes added.

She also feared that her ballot might be used by one of the presidential candidates to cheat if she did not choose one.

The partial tallies being reported to the Comelec showed votes for Señeres, ranging from a few hundreds to a couple of thousands in every region, have left many in wonder and frustration.

In the microblogging site Twitter, supporters of losing presidential candidate Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago had this response: “People aren’t voting for MDS (Miriam Defensor-Santiago) because they say she’s dying (of cancer) but … people voted for Señeres when he is dead. Where is the logic?” said one who used the account @ItsAngelClyla.