Despite concurrent rains, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Monday, Feb. 20 that the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) for the Cavite special polls scheduled on Feb. 25 has been successful.
In a statement sent by Comelec spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco, the FTS of a total of 426 Vote-Counting Machines (VCMs) in 75 Voting Centers in 116 barangays in Trece Martires City, and in the towns of Amadeo, Indang at Tanza went smoothly.
Based on the final report, Comelec said that all VCMs worked fine and the machines counted accurately while no SD card malfunctioned. The only issue that the poll body observed was the paper jam which was easily fixed by correcting the way the VCM was placed on top of the ballot box so that the ballot exit slot corresponds with the entry receptacle.
As of 11:15 a.m. on Monday, Comelec said that the FTS finished in all 75 voting centers while others are currently conducting administrative procedures. According to the poll body, the FTS is the final part of the Automated Elections System (AES) in preparation for the special elections to determine who will fill in the vacated seat in the House of Representatives (HOR) for the 7th Legislative District of the Province of Cavite.
For the FTS, the 1,300 members of the 436 Electoral Boards (EBs) made sure that their kits were complete, which includes the sealed VCM, main and backup SD cards, including iButtons, thermal, plastic seals, marking pens as well as documents and checklists.
Comelec explained that the VCMs were placed in their respective ballots to show that it contains no votes. A total of 10 test ballots will be fed to test if the machine will accept and count them correctly. After this, EBs will determine if the VCMs counted the votes correctly by comparing the FTS election returns with the test ballots as well as the voter receipts. Every valid ballot read by the VCM will print a voter's receipt.
The EBs will then make sure that they re-zero the VCMS, placed with plastic security seals, before powering it off and placed in boxes to be deposited in the rooms of schools that are part of the special polls.
Each storage room, according to the poll body, is guarded by personnel from the Department of Education (DepEd) together with the Philippine National Police (PNP), and observed by members of the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) as well as other watchers of political parties and other watch groups.
Pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 10848, the poll body will be conducting a special election after the HOR passed a resolution declaring a vacancy in the 7th District of Cavite after Jesus Crispin Remulla assumed as Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Among the candidates is Remulla's son, Crispin Diego Diaz Remulla who will be running under the National Unity Party. Three others are Jose Angelito Domingo Aguinaldo, Melencio Loyola De Sagun, Jr., and Michael Angelo Bautista Santos who are all independent.
Similar to the May 2022 polls, the voting, counting, and canvassing of votes will be via the Automated Elections System, using the VCMs and the Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS).