PPCRV looking into new ways to improve auditing of votes

MANILA, Philippines — The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said they are looking into new ways to enhance the auditing of votes amid the issues hounding the automated elections.

“We will try to continue to think of new ways on which we can audit [the votes in] the new systems [of voting],” PPCRV chairwoman Myla Villanueva told reporters at the PPCRV Command Center in Manila on Wednesday.

She said that in the past, the receipt is not available to voters, but now it is.

Asked if PPCRV is open to manual counting, Villanueva said it is a “backward” procedure because people are already used to automated elections.

“Well, you know my view is we have a lot of new millennials now. We have people who are so used to this [automated polls]. [Manual counting] is [like] moving back, it is not solving the problem,” Villanueva said in an ambush interview with reporters at the PPCRV Command Center in Manila.

Meanwhile, Villanueva said vote counting machines (VCM) provide transparency as they can issue receipts which could reflect inconsistencies in the voter’s ballots.

“Right now, that [transparency] is available to you on your receipts,” she said.

Nine hundred sixty-one VCMs and 1,665 SD cards suffered glitches in the May 13 polls. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

READ: 961 VCMs, 1,665 SD cards suffer glitches in 2019 polls — Comelec