Comelec wants to rent vote-counting machines for 2025 midterm polls

FILE PHOTO: Teachers serving as board of election inspectors spend an extra day on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, wrapping up their task at North Fairview Elementary School in Quezon City after vote-counting machines and secure digital (SD) cards malfunctioned in many precincts on Election Day. INQUIRER/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia on Thursday bared the agency’s plan to just rent vote-counting machines instead of buying new ones for use in the 2025 midterm elections.

The midterm elections are held during the middle of the current President’s term.

According to Garcia, the Comelec now has in storage 90,000 vote-counting machines. These machines were used in the last national elections. However, he said, as these machines were used in the past three elections, their accuracy may have been lessened.

“Sa atin pong assessment ‘yun pong ating 90,000 machines, na ilang elections na po ang pagsisilbi mga tatlong elections na po sa aming palagay po medyo hindi na po ganoong ka-accurate o kabisa o kagaling ang kaniyang performance kung ito ay gagamitin sa 2025  elections,” said Garcia in an interview over ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.

(We have assessed our 90,000 machines, which have served for three elections, their performance will not be as accurate, efficient, or good if used in the 2025 elections.)

The vote counting machines are currently being stored in a warehouse in Laguna, which Garcia noted is quite expensive. The commission wants to rent vote counting machines instead of buying new ones.

“Mas mura po ‘yun hindi kami magwawarehouse hindi kami magmamaintain and siguradong mas bago ang papagamit natin,” he explained.

(That would be cheaper, we won’t warehouse, we won’t maintain, and we’re even assured that we will use something newer.)

He, however, clarified that the soon-to-be-replaced machines will still be kept as backup units for future use, specifically as a quick replacements for malfunctioning machines.

When asked when the Comelec will propose the budget for the rental of the vote counting machines, Garcia said the amount may be included in its 2024 budget proposal.

“Kaya po kami hindi makakilos ngayon, nagiintay kami ng direksyon sa Kongreso kung tayo ba ay full computerization tulad ng nakaraang halalan, o meron bang attempt na gawing hybrid,” explained Garcia.

(We can’t act now because we’re still waiting for direction from Congress if we are going for full computerization like the last election or go hybrid.)

“Kung hybrid po iba rin ang proseso, procedure at baka iba rin ang makina at pamamaraan ng pagboto,” he added.

(If it’s a hybrid election, the process, procedure, and maybe the method to count the votes will also be different.)

It can be recalled that the same vote counting machines yielded a 99.96 percent accuracy rate in the recently-held 2022 national and local elections.

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/MUF