House Deputy Speaker Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has called on the House of Representatives to probe the election day incident wherein nearly two thousand vote counting machines (VCMs) malfunctioned, inconveniencing thousands of voters.
"We owe it to our voters to investigate these reports and recommend remedial measures, either via legislation or administrative sanctions or penalties to be imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on responsible personnel and/or its automation service provider, Smartmatic,” the Cagayan De Oro representative urged on Tuesday, May 10.
“The Comelec and its automation contractor have not resolved these issues. There has to be a solution,” he added.
The CDO representative says that the Comelec should bare to the public exactly what went wrong and how the poll body addressed the VCM issues.
On May 9, the day of the 2022 National Elections, just over 1,800 VCMs malfunctioned.
Read more here:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/09/comelec-1800-vcms-malfunction-on-poll-day/
https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/09/vcm-glitches-long-lines-mar-start-of-may-9-elections/
As a result, some voters were at their respective voting precincts hours past the 7 p.m. deadline of voting, some were there up to 2 a.m. in the morning.
“Our voters should not go through this sad, unfortunate and totally avoidable experience again in future elections,” the solon concluded.