Red-eyed ballot counters work past deadlines<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Thursday was the deadline for ballot counting
\nresults at every district polling committee (PPK) but in a number
\nof districts the counting process was still far from finished.<\/p>\n
According to the official schedule set by the General
\nElections Commission (KPU), ballot counting at PPK level should
\nhave finished on Thursday. June 14 is the deadline for the
\ncounting process at mayoralty level. Final results for city
\nshould be completed by June 17 before reaching the National
\nElection Committee by June 21. Provisional results have been
\nexpected much earlier, raising concerns particularly among
\npolitical parties, the public and observers.<\/p>\n
The process was not yet completed even at subdistrict polling
\ncommittees such as the Kebon Sirih subdistrict committee in
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Fatigue was obvious among faces of members of the Tanah Abang
\ndistrict committee in Central Jakarta, who were rechecking ballot
\nresults of seven subdistricts. Rechecking is done by reading out
\nloud the counting sheets of every subdistrict then having them
\nrecounted by all committee members. Members represent all parties
\nregistered in the district plus government representatives.<\/p>\n
The committee members, along with security guards, guard
\nballot boxes around the clock against possibilities of vote-
\nrigging.<\/p>\n
\"That's why errors could not be hindered, and the columns on
\nthe counting sheets are so small that sometimes we fill the
\ncolumn with wrong data,\" said Zuardi, a red-eyed committee
\nmember.<\/p>\n
\"In the case of such mistakes, we should recheck or even
\nrepeat the counting,\" he said. Zuardi said that after more than
\ntwo hours, committee members had only completed rechecking
\nresults from two of the seven subdistricts.<\/p>\n
If reports from the subdistricts were complete, the earliest
\nthe Tanah Abang district committee would have completed its job
\nwould have been late Thursday.<\/p>\n
When asked whether they could meet the deadline, another
\ncommittee member, Suherman, just smiled.<\/p>\n
\"I am not sure because data from Kebon Melati subdistrict has
\nnot been sent,\" he told The Jakarta Post during a break. The
\nrecounting process was witnessed by members of poll observers and
\nseveral parties' cadres in line with the rule. Difficulties were
\nraised when members of the committee were missing.<\/p>\n
The district committee also rechecks the number of invalid
\nballots at all subdistrict committees.<\/p>\n
The counting sheet of the district committee is then sent to
\nthe Mayoralty Election Committees along with the ballot boxes,
\nballot papers and other poll equipment.<\/p>\n
Suherman was surprised upon knowing that the city
\nadministration had preliminary results based on the data of each
\ndistrict, which was said to be for \"internal purposes\" of the
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
Efforts of at least one subdistrict committee was rejected by
\nthe district committee. Muchlis, a member of the Kebon Sirih
\nsubdistrict, was sent back by the Menteng district committee
\nbecause there were too many erase marks and crosses on the
\ncounting sheet. Muchlis had to request another sheet from the
\nCentral Jakarta Mayoralty Elections Committee, but sheets there
\nran out so another member was sent to get one from the Provincial
\nElection Committee.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile at the Joint Operations Media Center (JOMC), helping
\nto issue reliable though unofficial results of the General
\nElections Commission, a 150-strong workforce of mostly
\nuniversity students were seen on Thursday morning working 150
\ntelephone lines and jotting down the latest election results.<\/p>\n
On the first floor of the Hotel Aryaduta Jakarta the workers
\nimmediately handed filled in forms to helpers manning the
\ncenter's computer network system and into which information was
\nfed through 100 computers.<\/p>\n
Each form has a pin code written on the right-hand side by the
\nhelper who takes the call. The code indicates the province from
\nwhich the information came from.<\/p>\n
JOMC operational director Ross Mackay added Thursday that data
\nwas being faxed or phoned in by about 75 percent of the 4,000
\ndistrict polling committees (PPK) nationwide.<\/p>\n
The remaining 25 percent which did not have phone lines,
\nrelayed the information via radio to offices of the regional
\nelections committees (PPD II), who then phoned or faxed the data
\nto JOMC, he said.<\/p>\n
The 400 helpers who work three shifts daily keep the world
\nupdated with reliable, but unofficial election results, with
\ntechnical help from 20 members of the Australian General
\nElections Commission and the International Foundation for
\nElection Systems (IFES) of the US, Mackay said.<\/p>\n
He stressed JOMC was right on schedule, in terms of providing
\n\"early and indicative\" results of the June 7 election.<\/p>\n
\"The General Elections Commission (KPU) here gave us till June
\n10 to provide early, indicative results,\" Mackay said.<\/p>\n
As of 12:14 p.m. on June 10, at least 11 percent of the votes
\ncast by approximately 100 million people on June 7 were tallied.<\/p>\n
On the perceived slow process of counting Mackay said,
\nsubdistrict election offices had to gather forms from 320,000
\npolling stations -- each form representing the voice of some 400
\nvoters -- and verify the forms before submitting results to
\ndistrict election committees.<\/p>\n
\"The JOMC instead receives information already worked on by
\nthe 4,000 district election committees... each form we receive,
\nrepresents some 30,000 voters\". (ind\/ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/red-eyed-ballot-counters-work-past-deadlines-1447893297",
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