The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday, May 10, said the transmission of election returns has been faster this year compared to previous elections.
“Nabakabilis na po ng pagpapadala. At the same time wala na po nabulunan (The transmissions have been fast. There is no more choking,” Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia during an interview on DZBB.
“We learned from our experience in 2019 na may nabulunan (where there was a choke in the transmission). Ngayon po walang nabulunan (Now there is no choking),” he added.
The commissioner also attributed the fast transmission of election results to the improved services of telecommunication firms.
“Di ba po kahit sa atin sa internet e mas mabibilis na po yun depende kung ano yung ia-avail mo na mbps (Our internet is faster depending on what internet speed you will avail),” he said.
Based on data Garcia shared to the media, over 80,000 were able to transmit data within four hours after the end of the voting hour of 7 p.m.
While, in 2019 and 2016, it took seven and six hours more, respectively.
Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo told reporters that the fast transmission can be attributed to the preparations made by the poll body.
Among these, Casquejo said there was “enhanced terms of reference in the transmission contract among others which includes media server to prevent 7-hour glitch.”
“During prelat (pre logical accuracy test) we include test of transmission package in all VCM which we did not do in previous election,” he cited.
Casquejo said there was also “stress test of the 106,174 VCM using dummy test data sending simultaneously.”
“During fieldtest and mock election we use the actual data center to test its connectivity,” he also cited.
“Di ba po kahit sa atin sa internet e mas mabibilis na po yun depende kung ano yung ia-avail mo na mbps (Our internet is faster depending on what internet speed you will avail),” he said.
Casquejo also cited, among others, the early procurement and estblishment of data centers as well as thw repairs of the VCM transmission USB ports.
Out of the 106,174 election returns (ER), Comelec has received 103,956 as of 10:59 am.
At the same time, the Comelec also received 660 overseas voting ERs out of 1,406.