Comelec starts delivery of ACMs in Region 12

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 20 March) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has started the delivery of the Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) that will be used in the 3,700 polling precincts in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) in the May 12 local and national midterm elections.

Members of electoral boards in Sultan Kudarat undergo training in using the Automated Counting Machines (ACMs). Photo from the Facebook page of Comelec-Sultan Kudarat

Lawyer Jose Villanueva, Comelec-12 assistant regional director, said they have established a technical hub in Barangay Apopong here for the ACMs, other equipment and polling paraphernalia.   

“Some units (ACMs) are already here in our technical hub,” he said in an interview with Brigada News General Santos on Wednesday afternoon.

The official said the hub, which also served as the agency’s storage facility in the previous elections, is secured by police personnel and assigned watchers.

The ACMs will be dispatched to the 3,700 polling precincts in the region’s four provinces and four cities starting May 2, in time for the scheduled “field testing” or the final testing and sealing of the machines on May 5 to 8.

Villanueva said the training is currently ongoing for the Electoral Board (EB) members, specifically the teachers assigned as precinct chair and poll clerk, on the operation or use of the machines.

He said it is required that all precinct chairs and poll clerks “should know how to operate” the ACMs, which were contracted by Comelec from South Korean firm Miru Systems Inc.

“There are actual demonstrations and there are DOST (Department of Science and Technology) personnel present who will certify that they really know how to operate them,” he said.

As a contingency, Villanueva said they will also train selected police personnel that will serve as standby EBs in case some teachers would not be able to serve or back out during election day.

The official reiterated that the ACM is more advanced in terms of features compared to the machines and systems used by Comelec in the previous elections, specifically the enhanced voter’s receipt, faster system, review of votes and integrated privacy or vote secrecy function.

“It is faster and more user-friendly. It has earphones and removable keypads that may be used by persons with disabilities,” he said.

Villanueva said the machines will operate offline during the voting period and will only go online via SpaceX’s Starlink internet services during the transmission of votes.

Soccsksargen has a total of 2,701,992 eligible voters for the May 12 elections, data from the Comelec central office showed.

South Cotabato, including this city, has the highest number of eligible voters with 997,821, followed by Cotabato province with 797,609, Sultan Kudarat with 533,384, and Sarangani with 373,178. (Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews)