23 VCMs, 4 SD cards defective in Central Luzon
ITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that at least 23 vote-counting machines (VCMs) and four secure digital SD cards were defective by noon on election day.
Lawyer Elmo Duque, Comelec Central Luzon director, said defective VCMs totaled seven each in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, five in Zambales, two each in Aurora and Bataan, and one in Tarlac. Defective SD cards were confirmed to be one each in Bataan and Zambales, and two in Nueva Ecija. Pampanga had no defective VCM or SD cards.
Duque said the defective ones were being replaced.
“We have 194 contingency VCMs allocated for the region. Chat group exists for higher management to track down repair issues and concerns,” he said.
“For the SD card issues, we have seven provincial technical hubs for expeditious repairs,” Duque added.
“[If] all the 194 contingency VCMs are exhausted, we will wait for the functional VCMs of other precincts to be reconfigured using the SD card of the precinct whose VCM is damaged. EBs [election boards] shall feed the ballots,” he explained.
