DAVAO CITY (PIA) – In a bid to uphold a transparent and accessible electoral process for the upcoming 2025 midterm elections, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) XI is set to conduct extensive demonstrations of the voting process using the newly upgraded automated counting machines (ACMs) in various public places throughout Davao Region.
“Our goal is to educate as many voters as possible on the correct use of the new automated counting machine and the voting process. Ito ay paraan natin upang mawala ang agama-agam ng bawat isa na ang eleksyon ay maaring luto na o tapos na,” COMELEC-XI regional election director Atty. Michael Abas explained during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas on November 5.
(This is our way to erase everyone’s doubts that the elections is being fixed)
Abas shared that as early as November this year, all ACMs had already been delivered by a Korean manufacturer, ahead of the original target in December.
COMELEC-XI assistant regional election director Atty. Gay Enumerables shared that by the third week of November, COMELEC head office will begin training all its election officers and supervisors in the country on using the new ACMs.
Right after the training, Enumerables added that COMELEC will begin sending one machine per locality for the conduct of massive demonstrations on the use of the machine in public places.
“Starting siguro mga fourth week of November until end of January, we will be conducting ACM demo sa schools, sa malls, sa barangyas even in the farthest barangays dadalhin natin ang machine just to demonstrate kung papano gagamitin ang bagong makina,” Enumerables said.
(We will bring the machine to demonstrate how to use it.)
Enumerables explained that there is not much difference in the overall voting process with the new ACMs compared to previous elections that used the old vote-counting machine. The key upgrade this time lies in a faster and more efficient ballot scanning process and a more convenient way of double-checking the voted candidates.
“Yung makina natin ngayon is just the same with the old VCM, we shade then we feed it sa machine. But the machine lang may ibang function kasi in the previous election medyo mahina ang scanning nya but for now paspas sya,” Enumerables explained.
(Our machine is just the same with the old VCM, we shade then we feed it to the machine but the machine has other functions because in the previous elections it was slower but now it is much faster.)
She added, “Yung bagong innovation sa makina i-print yung parang resibo although we have that previously kasi maliit lang yung resibo, ngayon medyo malaki na ang resibo and makita natin and ma-compare natin kung sino talagang binoto natin.”
(The new innovation of the machine is it will print the receipt although we have that previously but the print is small now the receipt is much bigger and we an see and compare whom we voted.)
While there are still doubts about the integrity of automated elections, Abas assured the public that there will be no glitches on the day of the elections using the upgraded ACM.
“We can assure you that na walang glitch. Hindi po maiwasan na magkakaroon ng problema pero yun po ay hindi makapaalam sa maagang pagproklama ng lahat ng mga kandidato,” he explained.
(We can assure you that there will be no glitch, we cannot avoid problems but that will not hinder us in the early proclamation of the candidates.)
While the 2025 midterm poll is just around the corner, Enumerables said that they are currently conducting voter education in various barangays and schools throughout the region and, at the same time, doing onsite verification on the final list of voters as part of precinct preparations (clc/ASO/PIA XI)
