Fifteen minutes before polling station number 0596 closed in the Ladrón de Guevara neighborhood of Guadalajara, Luis cast his last ballot in the ballot box. He was the last person to vote, and although he decided to participate because it was “his duty” as a citizen, the voting process was complicated, unorganized, and the backgrounds of some candidates were “confusing, nonexistent, and in many cases, they lacked the credentials to aspire to the office they are seeking.”
“(The voting) was quite complicated. I did my research on the INE website. I realized that several of the candidates didn’t even have resumes. There was no information, and for some candidates, there was only one option. It seems totally illogical to me that they only give you one option. (The election) wasn’t 100 percent prepared. It took me days to do that research, so if someone hadn’t had the time to do that kind of research, how could they come prepared to cast their vote?” he recounted.
The polling station officials had the almost complete blocks of ballots in front of them. Around 50 people voted throughout the day. At no point did they have a large group of voters, except at 3:00 p.m. when two people lined up to cast their ballots. At Colegio Cervantes Costa Rica, the only noise heard was the cars passing in front of the school.
At a soup kitchen across from the school, there was more people, while in the distance the roar of a motorcycle or a car horn could be heard. After Luis, no one else came to vote, and the polling station president closed the school gate as soon as the clock struck 6:00 p.m.
“It took me five minutes to vote because I had a list. Without it, it would have been very difficult to vote. Last week, I started doing it, looking at the INE website, media outlets, and academics who analyzed the profile of each candidate. To analyze and compare points of view. But yes, it lacked a lot of logistics,” added Luis, standing on the school’s entrance steps. His voice echoed in the doorway of the polling station.
The young man also noted that it is “alarming” that several candidates without the necessary experience were allowed to run. “Those kinds of details are worrying, especially for people who weren’t prepared,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, at polling station 0597, where federal representative Mery Gómez Pozos voted this morning, 41 people turned out throughout the election day.
Source: informador
