‘We are here to erase doubts’: Comelec kicks off random manual audit of votes

OFFICIAL COUNT Comelec personnel readies the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City where the National Board of Canvassers will be canvassing votes of the 2022 national elections. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — Seeking to “erase doubts” about the electoral system, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday kicked off its random manual audit (RMA) that would involve over 700 clustered precincts across the country.

The RMA is a process the Comelec undertakes during elections to determine whether the automated count of the vote counting machines under an Automated Election System (AES) is accurate based on the manual verification of the said count.

There are 757 clustered precincts randomly selected for the RMA for this year’s polls.

“The random manual audit will determine and will bolster our faith in the electoral system. That the machine count is accurate and that the machine counts is what is reflected in the ballots,” Commissioner Aimee Ferolino said in a short speech at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

Ferolino is in charge of the poll body’s RMA committee.

“So after the conduct of the RMA, I am sure and I am confident that we can prove once again the accuracy of our machines and that our electoral system is reliable,” she added.

The conduct RMA will be a “long and difficult and tedious job” but is “worth the sacrifice,” according to Ferolino.

“The last activity for this elections is the random manual audit, tayo yung finisher… After all has been done in the elections from the local up to the national level, nakapag-proclaim na kami dito sa national positions but the task of the RMA is not yet finished,” she said.

“It will be a long and difficult nd tedious job kasi manual but it will be worth the sacrifice because we will look at the records and we will find out kung ano talaga ang totoong count because there are still doubts, there are still doubts, but we are here to erase doubts. Wala tayong papanigan, we will look at the records and we will let the records speak for itself,” she added.

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