COMELEC Confident That Election Tech Issues Were “Isolated Incidents” Across Every Election Since 2010
Commission on Elections Assures Public That Voting Machines Will Work This Time, For Real
COMELEC Confident That Election Tech Issues Were “Isolated Incidents” Across Every Election Since 2010
The Commission on Elections held a press briefing to assure the public that vote-counting machines for the next national elections will absolutely, definitely work correctly this time. COMELEC Chairman Atty. Francisco Hilario-Belmonte opened by acknowledging that the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 elections had each experienced “isolated technical incidents” a category that, listed together, included machine failures, SD card malfunctions, transmission errors, audit discrepancies, and one instance where a machine in Maguindanao displayed results for a different province. “Each of those was isolated,” he said firmly. “The fact that there were isolated incidents in every election is not a pattern. It is a series of isolated things that happened.” The new machines, procured from the same vendor at PHP 12.4 billion, are now charcoal instead of grey. COMELEC noted they passed laboratory testing, which observers contrasted with actual precincts: gymnasiums during brownouts, operated by teachers who received two hours of training. The Automated Election System has critics across the political spectrum, united in the view that something has gone wrong in every election but divided on which parts were accidental. At press time, COMELEC’s website was down.
SOURCE: Bohiney News.