Comelec probing 4 mismatched ERs
Four allegedly mismatched election returns (ERs) discovered by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) are now the subjects of an investigation by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Comelec acting spokesman Rex Laudiangco told reporters in a Viber message yesterday said the investigation is being handled by the Comelec’s Steering Committee and Information Technology Department (ITD).
“We are awaiting the formal report from the ITD,” Laudiangco said when sought for comment on the anomaly reported by the Church-backed election watchdog.
Last Friday, the PPCRV said there were no “overt signs” of cheating in May 9 elections, although it found four physical ERs that did not match with their electronically-transmitted counterparts. It identified these mismatched results as the ERs from Arayat Elementary School, Masabate; Pacatin Elementary School and Monticello Elementary School, both in Quezon; and Maribao Elementary School in Cebu.
Laudiangco said the investigation will either resolve the issue of the apparent mismatch, “proving that there is none in the first place and everything matches” or “determine the cause of the mismatch, if indeed there is one.”
He explained that the discrepancy between the physical ERs and the electronic transmission might have been due to the voting that occurred in the final testing and sealing of the vote counting machines (VCMs) and not the voting that happened on May 9.
In this case, the second ER “correctly shows the election results,” said Laudiangco.
Another possibility is a procedural error on the part of the electoral board, whereby voting was prematurely closed, leading to partial transmission and partial results in the ERs.
In this case, Laudiangco said the concerned electoral board (EB) had to “re-zero the machine; batch feed the ballots and close and transmit” the ERs later on after they realized that they had committed the procedural error, which is also part of the poll body’s investigation.
“The EB on the last case is likewise being investigated given that the ER in the possession of the Election Officer matched with the transmitted ER. These are mere preliminary assessments and in no way the final results of the investigation,” he said.
For the sake of transparency, the Comelec will disclose the results of the investigation upon its conclusion.
In another development, the Comelec is all set for the special elections to be held in Tubaran, Lanao del Sur on Tuesday, May 24.
“We don’t have to prepare for other things there. The ballots and the machines are there. We just have to conduct the elections,” Laudiangco said.
The Comelec had to declare a failure of elections in 14 barangays in Butig, Binadayan and Tubaran due to incidents of ballot snatching and violence. Although special polls were recommended by the Comelec regional director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in these three areas, the Comelec en banc has yet to issue a resolution for Binadayan and Tuburan.