Comelec braces for delivery of vote machines to Region 8 poll centers

TACLOBAN CITY, April 25 (PNA) -– The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start the delivery of 5,754 vote counting machines (VCMs) to polling places in Eastern Visayas next week.

Comelec Regional Director Dennis Ausan said almost all of the 5,754 have been delivered to hubs in Ormoc City and Tacloban City for delivery to all voting centers. Each clustered polling precinct has one VCM.

“The shipment of these equipments and accountable forms has been smooth from the point of origin in Sta. Rosa, Laguna to the region. The next stage is to deploy this to polling places that will come in the first week of May,” Ausan said.

Contractor 2GO Express and 2GO Logistics Philippines Inc. will dispatch these machines two to three days prior to final testing and sealing (FTS), prioritizing remote areas of the region. The firm assured that all machines will be in Tacloban and Ormoc hubs by Wednesday.

“Majority of the final testing and sealing will be done by May 5 and May 6,” Ausan said.

The region will also get contingency machines, but the regional office has yet to find out the allocation for the region after the Comelec en banc meeting on Wednesday.

The Comelec has stepped up coordination with the Philippine National Police and Philippine Army to implement security measures in the delivery of these machines especially in hotspot areas.

The FTS aims to check the completeness, security, and accuracy of the VCMs before they are used on Election Day. During the test, there will be actual voting using ballots, which will be fed to the VCMs.

The VCMs will then generate eight copies of the FTS results using the thermal papers. The FTS ballots will also be manually counted and verified by the Special Board of Election Inspectors.

The VCMs will be disconnected from the power cable with the election paraphernalia to be used set to be placed inside the ballot boxes. It will be sealed and be opened only on May 9. (PNA)
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