By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL
VOTING may be extended in areas where vote-counting machines (VCMs) have caused delays, Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez said Monday.
Comelec has been receiving numerous reports of rejected ballots since voting opened.
Ballots are considered rejected if they are not accepted by the VCM after four attempts, said Jimenez.
In case VCMs are broken or non-functional, around 4,000 replacement machines are “strategically deployed” across the country, Jimenez said.
Technicians will have to send reports of broken VCMs to the
Comelec command center.
Jimenez said he finds VCM errors “surprising” since all have undergone Final Testing and Sealing (FTS).
The extension of voting hours is a usual practice on election day, though not backed by a resolution.
Depending on subsequent reports, the Comelec en banc will have to issue a general resolution authorizing the extension in the event of a delay.
Other problems encountered so far are ballots that have been wrongly delivered, such as those bound for Sarangani but were sent to Marinduque instead.
Meanwhile, in Sorsogon, BEIs failed to provide indelible ink, which has caused some of the voters to leave. While this would not invalidate the result of the elections there, it raises the risk of having flying voters.
