105 spare VCMs ready in case of tech glitches
COMELEC: ALL SYSTEMS GO By Ime Sornito
ILOILO City – It’s all systems go for today’s national and local elections, according to the Commission on Elections ( Comelec) in Western Visayas.
In case of technical glitches, Comelec has a standby 105 votecounting machines (VCMs) ready for deployment.
A total of 8,570 VCMs will be used in 8,570 clustered precincts across Region 6 today, said Comelec regional director Atty. Wilfred Jay Balisado.
Voting starts at 6 a.m. and will end at 7 p.m.
During the final testing and sealing of VCMs on Saturday, 48 were found to be defective.
“Now all the 8,570 VCMs are working. Nagamit natin ang 48 extra VCMs to replace sa mga sira during the (final testing and sealing). Meron pa tayong 105 spare VCMs. Now, it’s all systems go,” Balisado told Panay News on Sunday afternoon.
What should the Electoral Board do in case the VCM assigned to their precinct malfunctions?
Balisado said the protocol is for the Electoral Board to alert Comelec and wait until the replacement VCM arrives. Only then can the voting resume
In case there are no more spare VCMs available to replace the one that malfunctioned, voting should still continue but sans the feeding of the ballots.
Then when the voting closes at 7 p.m., the Electoral Board should feed the ballots to the reconfigured VCM of its nearest polling precinct, said Balosado.
As for the SD cards of VMCs, if these malfunction, the standby technicians of the Department of Science and Technology and Department of Information and Communications Technology on standby at the Comelecprovincial office would respond.
Balisado urged voters to vote early and not wait for the last minute to show up at polling precincts.
He reiterated the procedures for a faster and smoother voting process:
* Subject yourself to temperature check upon entry to the polling place. Voters with 37 degrees temperature or higher shall be required to rest and have their temperature taken after five minutes. If the temperature is still 37 degrees, you will be ushered to the Isolation Polling Place (IPP) and will vote there.
* Wear facemask at all times and bring your own disinfectant. Face shields and vaccination cards are not required to enter a precinct and vote.
* Bring kodigo (list of candidates to vote).
* Do not over vote (vote only for the number of candidates required for the office. Over voting invalidates the votes for said position only and not the whole ballot.)