Comelec starts release of ballot boxes used for Eleksyon 2022 random manual audit

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has started returning the ballot boxes used for the random manual audit (RMA) in May 2022 elections from Diamond Hotel in Manila to its respective points of origin.

The poll body on Monday started the reverse deployment of ballot boxes intended for the National Capital Region. The event was attended by Comelec Education and Information Division Director James Jimenez, Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) representative in RMA Atty. Helen Graido, and Mark Malinao from the office of Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, the chairperson of the RMA Committee.

According to Malinao, they have decided to open 769 ballot boxes, more than the target 757 ballot boxes, from randomly selected clustered polling precincts.

He said the RMA committee already audited 746 ballot boxes and there were seven which were still subject to analysis, six that were not audited anymore, and two that were closed temporarily as they still await the election returns that were supposed to be found inside the boxes and the online ERs that were not available during the audit process.

Under the law, there shall be a random manual audit in one precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Comelec in each province and city. Any difference between the automated and manual count will result in the determination of root cause and initiate a manual count for those precincts affected by the computer or procedural error.

According to the Comelec, RMA is the process of examination to determine whether the automated count of the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) under an Automated Election System (AES) is accurate based on a manual verification of said count.

Although the committee planned to conduct the RMA within 45 days, Malinao said they were able to process the ballot boxes within 34 days.

Graido said the RMA was done at a "good pace" considering the number of ballot boxes that they have processed and the complicated procedure of the audit.

Since there were two ballot boxes yet to be audited, Malinao and Graido said they cannot determine yet the overall accuracy rate of the VCMs' reading of votes.

But Graido noted that the latest preliminary accuracy rate that they have computed was at 99.96%.

The random manual audit was led by the Comelec, poll watchdogs like LENTE, an association of certified public accountants, and the Philippine Statistics Authority.  —KBK, GMA News