Comelec identifies 355 defective vote-counting machines; repairs ongoing
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections on Thursday said it has identified 355 vote counting machines (VCM) with mechanical defects as it was conducting its final testing and sealing (FTS) in the past few days.
In a press briefing on Thursday, the poll body also reported that it has already dispatched all the vote-counting machines, ballot boxes, along with the official ballots for Monday’s polls.
"The repairs for the 355 defective VCMs are ongoing, these were already sent to [the repair hub] in Sta. Rosa (Laguna) for repairs," Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The poll body said it started its FTS across the cluster of precincts on Monday, May 2. It has already conducted the tests in 67% or 70,924 out of the over 106,704 precinct clusters as of Thursday, while 14,060 machines are still undergoing testing and sealing.
Casquejo said that the 355 defective machines only have mechanical defects such as not being able to read scans.
The commission reportedly has some 1,100 contingency machines and with the rate of its final testing and sealing, Casquejo expressed confidence that there would not be a problem on election day.
“As compared to 2019, the rate of defective VCMs is low because in 2019, on the first day we conducted FTS, we already logged 500 defective VCMs. Maybe because we already repaired them, refurbished the machines, [the number of defective machines] are low,” Casquejo said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The 40 defective SD cards for the machines have also been replaced.
23% overseas voter turnout so far
Meanwhile, the overseas voter turnout stands at 23% with less than four days left before the deadline, translating to 387,437 votes of the 1.697 million registered Filipino voters abroad.
However, the commission remained positive that overseas voting turnout this year will surpass that of the previous national elections.
“With this trend, malamang malalampasan natin ‘yung 2016 voting turnout which was 32%... and hindi pa kumpleto ‘yung data natin,” Casquejo said.
(With this trend, the voting turnout this year will exceed the 2016 [overseas] voting turnout which was 32%... and our data is not even complete yet.)
The poll body is still waiting for data from other foreign service posts.
Comelec data showed that 148,127 Filipinos in the Middle East and Africa have already exercised their right to vote, 139,041 in the Asia-Pacific, 56,550 in the Americas have voted, and 41,719 Europe-based voters have cast their ballots.
The poll body earlier said it would not be extending the overseas voting period for mail-in ballots despite late deliveries of election paraphernalia, saying that foreign service posts with only the postal voting system are now allowed to open their doors for on-site voting.
READ: Vancouver consulate opens doors for in-person voting
The commission said the increase in voter turnout may also be attributed to allowing registered voters to “vote anywhere” with 2,245 registered voters filing a manifestation to cast their ballots in a different foreign service post. Out of this, 1,791 requests were approved.
The 454 requests denied were because of deactivated voter records, some had no record as an overseas voter, while the others filed applications in a post where a postal mode of voting is used. — Kaycee Valmonte
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