Feeding ballots to Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) should not be perceived as a means of cheating since it is a part of the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) contingency measures, Commissioner George Erwin Garcia explained on Monday, May 9.
"Kasama po sa protocol natin iyon. Dahil papaano po kung ang requirement natin para makaboto ang mga botante ay dapat nandyan yung machine? Isipin niyo kung mamayang hapon pa ang dating edi mamaya pa makakaboto ang mga botante natin (It's part of our protocol. What if our requirement to vote is that the machine needs to be there? If the VCM arrives late in the afternoon, then voters would only get to vote by that time)," he stated during a press briefing.
This was in response to countless social media reports of VCMs breaking down and members of the Electoral Board (EB) following the steps mentioned under the Comelec Resolution no. 10759.
Under the resolution, after an hour has passed and the machine remains unfixed, it will then be replaced. Garcia said that voting will not cease while waiting for a new machine.
According to the resolution, under this situation, within the duration of troubleshooting or seeking the replacement of the VCM, the EB shall announce to the voters casting or waiting to cast their votes that they have the following options:
- To proceed in casting their votes by shading their ballots with waiver of their right to be issued a voter’s receipt. In which case, these ballots shall be temporarily placed inside the Envelope for Rejected Ballots, Half or Torn Unused Official Ballots and Other Half of Torn Unused Official Ballots, and Counted Official Ballots and which shall be batch-fed by the EB before the close of polls; or
- To wait for the VCM malfunction to be resolved or the replacement VCM to arrive, for them to cast their votes and personally feed the ballot in the VCM.
In places where the VCMs malfunctioned, ballots are stacked on tables of the members of the EB under the watch of the citizen's arms as well as the watchers.
Garcia stated that the protocol is no longer new and has been implemented before. He also mentioned that the final testing and sealing is not an assurance that the machines will not bog down. It's important, however, that in the FTS, it was shown that the machines were empty.
Garcia stated that the ballots will be mass fed to the VCMs in front of representatives from political parties, citizen's arms, as well as watchers.
"Huwag po sila magtaka, o wag po sabihin na yun yung paraan para madaya o whatever (Voters shouldn't be confused or say that this is way to cheat or whatever)," he added.