Comelec to conduct separate assessment of replaced VCMs

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will conduct a separate assessment of the vote counting machines (VCMs) that replaced those that malfunctioned in the May polls.

“We gave the list of the precincts selected in the RMA to our IT department so we can match them and determine the problem of the VCMs and SD cards,” Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia told reporters after results of the random manual audit (RMA) was released.

The Comelec earlier said that nearly 1,000 VCMs malfunctioned while 961 SD cards were corrupted during the midterm polls.

READ: 961 VCMs, 1,665 SD cards suffer glitches in 2019 polls — Comelec

The RMA reported a 99.9953 percent accuracy rate for VCMs in the recently concluded elections.

According to the committee that conducted the RMA, this was the highest accuracy rate recorded since the country shifted to automated elections in 2010.

The accuracy rate recorded for 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections reached only 99.580 percent, 99.9747 percent, and 99.9027 percent, respectively.

READ: Audit shows nearly 100% accuracy of VCMs

The RMA, which covered 711 clustered precincts in 246 legislative districts, was conducted by public school teachers under the supervision of the Comelec, Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Lente, and the Philippine Statistics Authority from May 15 to June 5. (Editor: Eden Estopace)