Jasmine Bazán
09/12/2021 19:06
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 09/12/2021 19:06
The coronavirus canceled some of the typical rituals of the elections: family attendance at the voting centers, bills shared between polling authorities or between prosecutors from different parties, the traditional closing of envelopes.
The sanitary measures, in general, managed to
avoid crowding
inside the schools and people went to the elections with masks.
Many brought their own alcohol, pen, and glue.
The
long lines and crowds outside the schools
, on the other hand, were almost inevitable.
The table authorities -for operational reasons- could not maintain social distancing either.
Gel alcohol, an element that was not lacking in the voting tables.
Photo Lucia Merle
The protocols announced a few days ago were not respected in the same way everywhere.
The weather was "good Sunday" -as a young man from Chacarita reflected-, although there were complaints.
From early on,
Clarín
toured
Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires schools
to learn what it was like to vote in a pandemic.
Federal capital
In some places, classrooms were replaced by
screens
that allowed more air circulation.
In others, the darkroom door remained open, sparking some discussion.
The
panels with QR code to know the table were
not used.
The attendees appealed to the old voting station ballots taped to the wall.
Some schools took
voting stations out onto the sidewalk
, which resulted in roadblocks and traffic problems.
In a center of Villa Crespo, the queue stretched to both sides of the block.
The sole organizer admitted that she felt "overwhelmed by circumstances."
"With children, babies to upa and even dogs, whose leashes in some cases the policemen held, the neighbors queued up to 50 minutes," said a neighborhood voter.
Piles in La Rural, on Avenida Sarmiento 2704. Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi.
Of course, he felt that there was "a happy climate, as if it was a special pleasure to make a queue that is not to swab or get vaccinated."
"The
protocol
was much greater than in any visit to the supermarket.
Now, if one wanted to close the envelope well, something nothing less for those who cut the ballot, the Voligoma was over," he added.
At the "Girls of Ayohuma" institution, in Parque Chacabuco, a very heard comment was "
Is this the queue? It can't be
."
Some, the neighbors allege, "slipped in", with the excuse that they voted at another table to enter.
School No. 7 "Casa Amarilla", in Barracas, showed the opposite example.
"
I was surprised by the level of individual responsibility
,
"
a woman rescued.
And he closed: "There were no revivals with age and we all congratulate the facilitators."
In Belgrano, a mother with a young son lamented that she was not included among the priority groups.
A 90-year-old man left with a photo and applause.
"Lots of crocs and canes,"
her daughter joked.
The lines at the Champagnat school, at 1048 Montevideo Street. Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi.
"Some, in the Uruguayan way, carried mate in hand and the thermos under the armpit. I did not see anyone share," noted a neighbor from Almagro.
There, it was the Army that indicated how many people could enter.
The circuit did not take him more than 25 minutes.
In many schools a common situation was repeated, which seems to have been exacerbated by Covid:
table presidents who do not appear and delay the start of voting.
Lack of training of their replacements
represented a reason for claims.
Buenos Aires province
Roberto is 77 years old
.
He uses a cane and has difficulty moving around.
"I got to vote at 8 o'clock. The president of the table was not there.
The gendarmes sat me on a chair and went out to 'hunt' a president,
" he says.
It was at Balmoral College, Banfield.
The lack of accessibility for people with disabilities is a pre-pandemic problem, which remains unresolved.
The vote in Primary School No. 26 in Lomas del Mirador (La Matanza).
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami.
Julieta, a medical student from Lanús Oeste, thinks that the temperature should have been taken at the entrance of the schools.
"There were fifteen tables, rows without distance, full of people. They took my ID in their hand and made me sign with the pen on the table. In the bathroom there was not even paper or alcohol."
"How can it be that the 20s and 60s lined up in the same line? It doesn't seem safe to me. The health facilitators ... I owe them to you," his brother added.
At the "General San Martín" Military High School in San Martín it took a long time, but "all the protocols were met."
So that it did not pass from hand to hand, the DNI was supported, as in many establishments, on a plate.
A difficult situation was experienced in the "Colegio San Antonio de Padua", in Ciudadela.
A 63-year-old man had been waiting for almost two hours, because he was informed that the priority only contemplated those over 65 or with displacement problems.
"They should have taken turns," concluded his companion.
The Primary School N ° 12 of Lanús.
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami.
The Rivadavia school on the corner of Palacios, in Ramos Mejía, represented the opposite example.
Alcohol, orderly lines with benches in the street, little wait.
Something similar happened at the "Chacabuco" school in Haedo.
"The truth is, I came out happy ... and drunk," said a man, laughing, referring to the sanitizer he received at the entrance, inside and at the exit.
EMJ
