Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES)
MANILA, Philippines — Mall-based voting in 11 locations for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections went smoothly, with some glitches in polling precincts that used vote-counting machines (VCMs.)
“Napakaayos po (very orderly). Voting experience extraordina[ry],” said Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia when asked for an initial assessment of mall voting at SM Manila.
Six SM and five Robinsons’ malls hosted polling precincts.
Meantime, some VCMs encountered technical problems during the Monday elections.
“Nag-paper jam po ang ilang machines (some machines encountered paper jams) as expected,” Garcia told reporters.
“‘Yung iba po nagka-problem na-replace po kaagad (other VCMs were immediately replaced upon issues),” he added.
VCMs were used in Barangays Zone II, Poblacion and Paliparan III in Dasmariñas City, Cavite and Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City as part of a test run for full automation by 2025.
The rest of the barangays nationwide employed the manual voting process.