Comelec pulls out 311 vote machines

Despite supposed improvements in the automated election system, the same perennial complaints hounded yesterday's polls, as technical glitches, operational inefficiencies and questionable practices marred the voting experience for many Filipinos.

- By GHIO ONG

The Commission on Elections pulled out and replaced 311 automated counting machines (ACMs) yesterday following what Comelec Chairman George Garcia described as "minor technical issues."

He stressed that this was significantly lower than the 2,500 vote counting machines that malfunctioned in the 2022 elections.

He said the technical problems included the machine cover, scanner, screen, operational concerns, ballots smart cards, thermal paper, thermal printer and USB device.

At Legarda Elementary School in Sampaloc, Manila, priority voters, including the elderly, persons with disabilities and pregnant women, remained in the designated "priority polling place" beyond the 7 a.m. cut-off due to the absence of a functional automated counting machine (ACM) in the area. Poll workers resorted to manually collecting accomplished ballots from the priority voters.

Several organizations also reported widespread machine malfunctions across the country.

The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), which deployed over a thousand volunteers across 500 voting centers, flagged scanner sensitivity as the most common issue.

Machines often rejected ballots, forcing electoral boards to clean the scanners repeatedly, resulting in long queues and voting delays in Zamboanga del Sur, Tarlac, Ilocos Sur, Cagayan, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Aklan and Lanao del Norte.

Reports of malfunctioning ACMs were also received by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) from Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Pasig, Antipolo, Iloilo and Davao City. In some areas, such as Antipolo, ACMs failed entirely, prompting a shift to manuál ballot handling and counting.

In Central Luzon, the Police Regional Office recorded a total of 32 malfunctioning ACMs as of noon yesterday.

Of these, 16 were in Pampanga, six in Bulacan, four in Tarlac, three in Zambales, two in Bataan and one in Aurora.