After retiring its 98,000 Vote-Counting Machines (VCM) last used in the highly-criticized May 2022 elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) unveiled on Thursday, May 4, the latest specifications it is eyeing to have for a new set of machines that will be used in the 2025 polls.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia holds a copy of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Automated Election System (AES) to be used in the 2025 National and Local Elections during a press conference on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at the COMELEC Session Hall, Palacio Del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila. (Ali Vicoy)
Projected to restructure the Automated Election System (AES), Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia highlighted in a press conference some of the contents of their finalized Terms of Reference (TOR) for their proposed machine. Their policy direction, the Fully Automated System with Transparency Audit and Count (FASTrAC), will employ a "hybrid election system within the machine".
Much like its predecessors, the new machine called the Automated Counting Machine (ACM) that Comelec wants should have both Upgraded Optical Mark Reader (OMR) and DIrect Recording Electronic (DRE) capabilities. OMR is the same one used in past polls which involved shading the ballots. But this time, Garcia said that instead of that, it will be replaced with stamping. DRE or the touchscreen system, will be used for overseas voting and this feature will be disabled during the national elections here in the country.
"Kasi pag shine-shade mayroon pang issue ng 50 percent, 25 percent. Sasabihin kapag hindi daw 50 percent hindi na bibilangin ng machine...ngayon po hindi na, tatak lang (Because in shading there issues that 50 percent or 25 percent should be shaded. They would argue that if not 50 percent was shaded, the machine will not count it...but now they will just stamp it)," he explained.
He added that the Comelec en banc also decided that whoever will be providing the machine will also provide the papers that will be used, the stamp, as well as the other collaterals needed including the software for the AES except for transmission.
He stated that in a few days, they will be issuing a separate TOR for the transmission to make sure that they will have full control of it and that all the telcos that will be winning the procurement will be reporting directly to the poll body.
Best feature
According to Garcia, the best feature of this new machine will be its "transmit-to-all" feature. When transmitting results, from the precincts he stated that it will no longer go through the transparency server and will just go straight to the majority party, the minority party, the citizens' arms, the congress, the media, and the poll body's central server. All of which should receive the same results simultaneously.
Garcia bared that this will be done for the first time. He mentioned that part of the package of the winning bidder is to establish data centers where the results will be transmitted straight from the precincts.
On the other hand, according to their presentation, ballot images (both front and back) scanned, captured, and read by the ACM shall be successively displayed on the screen, one by one, showing the votes obtained by each candidate. Unlike the VCM, the ACM will also have at least a 12-inch diagonal display screen.
The Electoral Board, watchers, voters, and the public may visually inspect and manually verify the votes cast by viewing the ballot images displayed on the screen. Additionally, votes may be verified using the voter's receipt which is automatically cut by the printer, instead of manually cut with scissors.
Also, the proposed ACM's ballot box comes with a built-in compartment for the voter's receipts.
For the 2025 elections, Garcia said that they will just lease the machines with an option to purchase since they don't want to buy them yet and the 2025 polls can also serve as a means to test the machines out. They also want the machines to be upgradeable so that it may be used in future elections.
In line with these developments, Garcia said that they will be conducting a market survey which they hope will get responses before the end or early June. This way, they can determine if such a machine is in fact available in the market. If not, he stated that they will once again revise their TOR. He also assured the public that these specifications are not tailor-fit to a single manufacturer.
Garcia also stated that they indicated in the TOR that they are looking for a manufacturer who will custom-build the machine for Comelec, not just an integrator.
For the 2025 polls, Comelec projects that there will be 71 million voters that will be catered to by 127,000 precincts that will have one machine each.
Worst possible scenario
For Garcia, the worst possible scenario will be a repeat of what happened during the May 2022 polls. Supposedly, he said that they wanted to lease a new set of machines but their proposed budget was cut down by more than half which is why they resorted to the so-called refurbishment of the VCMs and lease of 11,100 more.
"Ang problema po namin kapag nagpropose po kami ng budget this year for the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) sana po naman, ang pakiusap po namin sana matingnan po mabuti ang kagandahan ng proposal na maiset aside na namin yung mga lumang makina at makaprocure ng bago makalease ng bago (Our problem is once we propose our budget this year for the 2024, we hope that can see the beauty of this proposal that may be able to set aside the old machines and procure or lease ones)," Garcia said.
Garcia stated that if they will not be given the budget that they need, the elections will once again make use of the 98,000 machines which they have already declared unusable through refurbishment. This will be difficult, according to Garcia, since they are no longer sure if there's anyone left to do this or if parts for the VCMs will still be available at that time.
"Alam niyo po 1,600 machines ang nagkaproblema noong nakaraang 2022. Nasisi po ang Comelec sa 1,600 wala pa pong 1 percent yun of the 107,000 precints. How much more if mahigit sa kalahati ang papalpak na makina dahil sa katandaan na sa 2025? That is the worst case scenario (You know, 1,600 machines malfunctioned in 2022. Comelec was blamed for the 1,600 which is not even 1 percent of the 107,000 precincts. How much more if more than half will of the machines will malfunction in 2025 due to old age? That is the worst case scenario)," he added.