Obama, Biden win US mock elections in Cebu

CEBU - US President-elect Barack Obama and his runningmate Vice president-elect Joe Biden literally won in a mock elections voted by more than 300 Cebuanos in yesterday’s Election Watch 2008 hosted by the US Embassy in the Philippines held at SM Mall.

“We are doing this simply to give the Filipinos a touch of what’s a US election is all about. This is democracy in action,” says Paul Jones, deputy chief of mission of the US Embassy.

Jones said that with the US new leadership, he is not expecting much changes as to the already “excellent, close and strong relationship” between the US and the Philippines.

Jones added that the two countries have the same shared values of democracy and historical experiences.

“The relationship between your country and my country is so close and so tight and that will not be altered,” Jones said.

Three voting machines, the touch screen machines, the optical scanner and the scantron machine, that use ballots similar to those actually used in the U.S., were made available for those who would like to participate in the mock elections.

Voting started at 9:00 in the morning and shortly after Obama and Biden were declared as winners in the real presidential and vice presidential race in the US at around 2:00 in the afternoon.

The results of the mock elections in Cebu revealed that out of the 306 individuals who cast their votes, 211 voted for Obama/Biden while 95 voted for John McCain/Sarah Palin, for president and vice president, respectively.

Cebu politicians who casted their votes have positive observations on how fast and realiable the elections would be had such kind of machines will be used in our own elections.

Aside from Cebu, the U.S. Embassy also hosted “U.S. Elections Watch” events at the SM Mall of Asia in Manila.

The events in Cebu and Manila, aside from having a mock election has featured continuous updates of election results from live cable TV feeds, trivia contests, and information sources from the Internet.

The US Embassy also conducted mock elections in 12 other American corners and libraries in Baguio, Batac, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Jolo, Marawi, Tawi-tawi, Cotabato and Zamboanga. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)