Despite glitches, Pulse Asia says 95% of Filipinos found it easy to use VCMs

MANILA, Philippines — Almost all Filipinos who cast their votes in the 2022 national and local elections had no trouble using the vote counting machines (VCMs) despite numerous reports of bugs and glitches, polling firm Pulse Asia said in its latest survey.

In its report on Monday, Pulse Asia said that 95 percent of Filipinos found it easy to use the vote counting machines — with 45 percent of the respondents saying it was “very easy” and 50 percent saying it was ‘easy.’

According to the survey, only one percent found it difficult to use, while three percent cannot say if it was difficult or not.

“Almost every Filipino adult who report voting in the recent elections (95%) found it very easy/easy to use the vote counting machines (VCMs),” the report said.

“This assessment is echoed by most voters in all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings (92% to 98% and 95% to 96%, respectively),” it added.

The highest percentage of respondents who reported that the VCMs were easy to use came from the Visayas, with an overwhelming 98 percent; it was followed by Mindanao and the National Capital Region (NCR), which had 97 percent each.

At least 92 percent of respondents from Balance Luzon found it easy.

In contrast, a negligible number (zero) from the Visayas found it difficult, while one percent each from NCR and Mindanao shared the same observations. Two percent of respondents in Balance Luzon also found voting procedures hard.

Pulse Asia also reported a high preference among Filipinos to continue the automated voting system, with faster election results being cited as the top benefit of this system.

At least 72 percent of the same set of respondents cited the delivery of faster results as the top benefit of automated elections, followed by more straightforward voting procedures at 15 percent.

“Preference for having automated elections in the future is expressed by 89% of Filipino adults. The same view is shared by most, if not nearly all, adults across areas and classes echo this sentiment (82% to 97% and 87% to 92%, respectively),” Pulse Asia said.

“Only 4% of adults have a contrary opinion on the matter while 7% cannot say if they would or would not like to see automated voting continued in future Philippine elections,” it added.

Pulse Asia said 1,200 adult Filipinos or those aged 18 and above were interviewed. The polling firm maintains a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level nationwide and ± 5.7% for each locale.

During election day, a lot of voters reported being given the option to leave their shaded ballots behind as VCMs malfunctioned. This led to extended voting hours as some voters refused to go home without having their ballots fed to the VCMs, over fears that it might be swapped.

The numerous reports of VCM errors led former senator Bam Aquino, campaign manager of former vice president Leni Robredo who ran for president, to refrain from leaving polling precincts until ballots are placed inside the VCMs.

Initially, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that no errors were reported early into the election. But after the polls ended, they said that around 1,800 VCMs malfunctioned — leading them to decide against using the machines for future elections.

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