200 vote-counting machines need to be replaced –PPCRV

Around 200 vote-counting machines (VCM) used for Eleksyon 2022 needed replacement, church-based poll watcher Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) reported Monday.

“As of now, we have received reports na there’s a request for at least 200 replacement VCMs nationwide,” PPCRV Spokesperson Van Dela Cruz told reporters in a 5 p.m. press briefing  — two hours before polling precincts closed at 7 p.m.

However, the group clarified that it was still too early to determine if the rate was “alarming”, saying the elections remained an “evolving situation,” and further details on the incidents were needed, including the location of the replaced machines.

“In general, it would be alarming if it were over 4 percent. Maybe 400 or 500 machines might be alarming. But then again, it also depends on where these failures are. If there’s a grouping of failures like certain machines in certain areas then that can be alarming,” William Yu, PPCRV IT director, said.

“The absolute number, 'yung 200, hindi necessary alarming or not alarming because if all 200 are in one location — or in one general location — that can also be alarming.

“Hindi naman sya, it’s a smaller or bigger number… We also have to look where these failures are,” he clarified.

(The absolute number — the 200 is not necessarily alarming or not alarming because if all 200 are in one location or in one general location, that can also be alarming… It’s not about smaller or bigger numbers… We also have to look where these failures are.)

Malfunctioning VCMs were reported during Monday's 2022 national and local elections, with poll watchdog Kontra Daya saying the breakdown of machines was “much worse" compared to the 2016 and 2019 elections.

However, PPCRV said the situation was still “manageable” compared to the last election when other technical failures slowed the process.

“Compared to 2019 where we had a lot more failures of different kinds including SD card failure, it is still not a very large number, and we feel it is still manageable,” Yu said.

“It is an evolving situation, right? It is not the final numbers yet. It is still very preliminary. But at this point, we feel that this is something the Comelec (Commission on Elections) can still manage,” he added.

PPCRV is an accredited citizen’s arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) responsible for monitoring the unofficial parallel count of election returns transmitted to their servers.

PPCRC said that 500,000 had volunteered to work with them for this year’s elections. — DVM, GMA News