Comelec: 715 samples picked for manual audit

MANILA, Philippines – The random manual audit (RMA) for the May 13 midterm polls will be conducted in 715 clustered precincts nationwide, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Monday.

The RMA is conducted in order to compare the accuracy of votes recorded by the vote counting machines used in poll precincts.

Comelec Commissioner Luie Tito Guia said the locations of the 715 samples will soon be released in its official website.

“We have 715 samples [of] clustered precincts. It was the same number we used in 2016. Previously, the idea is to have three samples per legislative district, but what happened was instead of having uniform [number of] samples [for each district, what we did was to proportionally undertake the sample,” Guia, the poll body’s commissioner heading the RMA team, told reporters.

The development came after the Comelec, together with the Philippine Statistics Authority and elections watchdog Lente, among others, administered an electronic draw.

“Ibig sabihin, if a legislative district has more clustered precinct, then it would get more samples compared to a legislative which has very few samples. There will be 1 to 6 sample precincts per legislative districts,” Guia added.

In total, there are 243 legislative districts across the country.

Following the conduct of the RMA, Guia stressed that the poll body will perform the audit with integrity.

The RMA will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and is expected to finish within two weeks, Guia said. (Editor: Mike U. Frialde)