The Random Manual Audit (RMA) of the recently-concluded Cavite special elections yielded an accuracy rate of 99.95968 percent, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced.
In a statement on Monday night, Feb. 27, the poll body stated that the RMA concluded at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26 after auditing seven out of seven clustered precincts randomly selected by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Comelec added that only one variance or difference between the count made by the Automated Election System (AES) and RMA was recorded.
According to the summary report, the said variance can be "readily explained by the difference between the visual and mechanical measurements (reading) of the oval shading threshold by the Random Manual Audit Team (RMAT) and the Vote Counting Machine (VCM)."
The law mandates Comelec to conduct RMA when the AES is used, which is done by manually counting the votes on the machine-readable paper ballots to determine the accuracy of the election results.
Comelec proclaimed on Sunday (Feb. 26) Crispin Diego “Ping” Remulla, the son of Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, as the new representative of the 7th district of Cavite.
Remulla bested other candidates after garnering a total of 98,474 votes. On the other hand, Melencio de Sagun Jr. got 46,530 votes; Jose Angelito Domingo Aguinaldo received 1,610 votes; while Michael Angelo Bautista Santos got 1,068 votes.
According to Comelec Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco, more than 149,000 registered voters participated in the automated special elections.
Pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 10848, the poll body conducted a special election after the House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring a vacancy in the 7th District of Cavite after older Remulla assumed as Secretary of DOJ.