Solons want manual voting, counting and e-transmission in 2022 polls

An SD card is inserted into a new vote counting machine at the San Jose Elementary School in Makati after a defective VCM delayed proceedings on Election
Day on Monday, May 13, 2019. FILE PHOTO/Marianne Bermudez, Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the House Minority bloc want the country to revert to manual voting and counting but still use electronic transmission of the results of the 2022 presidential elections.

“We would like to strongly move in the next Congress the restoration of our old transparent system which is manual count witnessed by the nation and the Comelec and local technicians can improvise the fastest means of tabulating all of these results,” Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said during their weekly press briefing.

The lawmaker said this as he lamented the seven-hour glitch after the polls, the breakdown of hundreds of vote counting machines (VCM) and the identification of over a thousand defective SD cards.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez had clarified that the seven-hour delay in the release of information to the media servers after the polls closed on May 13 was caused by a glitch in the application pushing the data from the transparency server to the media outlets’ end.

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said he also filed House Resolution No. 2562 which calls for an inquiry into the technical glitches during the midterm elections and the “inefficient bidding process for the (election) supplies and equipment.”

Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said the malfunctioning of VCMs in Bicol caused “disenfranchisement” of some voters.

He also hit the Commission on Election (Comelec) for printing the party-lists contenders at the back of the ballot. Because of this, he said less than 50 percent was able to vote for party-lists out of the more than 63 million registered voters.

The automated election could only revert to manual if Congress amends Republic Act No. 9369 which amended the Automated Election Law.

The first fully automated elections in the Philippines was held on May 10, 2010.

IN THE KNOW: Automated Election Law