(Eagle News) — The Commission on Elections said that around 400 to 600 vote counting machines had problems out of the around 85,000 machines being used for the May 13, 2019 midterm elections.
In a press briefing, Comelec said that the ballot machines which were defective had to be replaced.
“We understand that the perception is that there are a lot of VCMs that have malfunctioned. Right now, I can tell you that the estimate is about 400 to 600 VCMs out of 85,000 have experienced issues,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press briefing on Monday, May 13.
“It could be bigger. It could be smaller. But that is the estimate that I have right now, ” he said.
Jimenez said that this is what he had received from “monitors in the field.”
The Comelec is also verifying the number of clustered precincts which opened, or which opened late.
But Jimenez said that they see no reason to extend the voting hours which end at 6 p.m., today.
“Extension is not necessary because the voting hours by design is already flexible,” he said.
-9,000 contingency VCMs-
The Comelec said that they have some 9,000 VCMs on standby nationwide.
“According to our records, we have some 9,000 VCM contingency machines nationwide,” said Comelec director Frances Arabe.
She said that the distribution of the contingency VCMs would depend on the voting population in a certain area.
Reports of vote counting machines which have stopped functioning or have experienced errors varied — from those which experienced paper jams to VCMs which cannot read ballots with shaded ovals.
Arabe said that the VCMs will also not read dirty ballots.
Malfunctioning VCMs were reported from several precincts from Luzon to Mindanao.
The non-working VCMs had caused delays in the voting, further causing longer lines of voters in several polling precincts.
In many instances, voters had to return to vote only after the malfunctioning VCMs had already veen replaced.
This was what happened in the case of Senator Grace Poe who had to return to her polling precinct because the VCM initially could not read ballots fed to it.
