BAGUIO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted a simultaneous nationwide road show on the use of the new automated counting machines (ACM) for the upcoming May 12, 2025 mid-term elections.
City Election Officer lawyer John Paul Martin says the ACMs to be used in next year’s polls have the necessary safety and security features that will guarantee the sanctity of the ballot and the votes that will be tallied for the aspirants to the various elected positions in the national and local levels.
Aside from the new safety and security features of the ACMs, Martin said there will be an allotted time for voters belonging to the vulnerable sectors, particularly the elderly, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and heavily pregnant women, which will be from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. on election day prior to the official start of casting of votes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
He pointed out that among the special features of the ACMS are the use of key cards to activate the machines, the presence of a 14-inch screen with privacy screen where voters can view the officials ballots they have shaded and compare it with the printed receipts, battery that is capable of providing power supply for the machines up to 14 hours, and the ability of the machines to simultaneously transmit the election results to seven official servers for purposes of transparency.
According to him, Baguio has a total of 167,465 registered voters but this number could still be reduced because of the ongoing cleansing of the voters list through the use of the automated fingerprint information system to ascertain double or multiple registrants.
Further, the Comelec will need some 696 teachers to compose the board of election inspectors in the 232 clustered precincts spread out in some 60 polling centers around the city.
He assured the city’s electorate there will be more similar ACM demonstrations that will be conducted in the different barangays to ensure that people are informed and educated on how to use the features during the casting of their ballots and the verification of the same during election day.
Martin stipulated that the ACMs have special alignment features that is why it is capable of reading the shaded portions of the official ballots that are crumpled, among others.
The poll body will be conducting an aggressive information and education campaign on the use of the ACMs around the country from December 2, 2024 to January 30, 2025 as part of the goal of ensuring that the Filipino voters are fully aware on how to use the ACMs during the conduct of the elections.
Martin said that the ACMs are different from the vote counting machines (VCMs) that had been used during the conduct of the automated election system since the May 2010 synchronized national and local elections.
He said that Baguio did not avail of the special polling precincts for members of the vulnerable sectors because there is already the early voting for them that has been determined to allow them access to the polling places on election day. By Dexter A. See
