Mock brgy, SK elections held in 3 barangays; manual polls in other areas

While several vote-counting machines (VCMs) failed to work properly during Tuesday's mock Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections in three barangays, the Commission on Elections was confident that the BSKE would run smoothly in these localities as each VCM would have a backup machine at the ready on election day - October 30.

However, according to Maki Pulido's 24 Oras report, because only 1,000 of Comelec's 98,000 VCMs were in good working order, these three barangays would be the only localities that would have automated elections during the upcoming BSKE.

The three barangays were: Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City, Barangay Paliparan 3 and Zone 2 in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Voting and counting would have to be accomplished manually in all other barangays.

Both Comelec Chairman George Garcia and the teachers serving as the board of election inspectors hoped that the next Barangay and SK Elections in December 2025 would be fully automated.

And with the next midterm elections scheduled for May 2025, there would be two elections in that year that would have to be funded.

So far, the funding allocated the Comelec was only for the midterms.

This September, Comelec will decide on the company they would rent machines for automated 2025 elections. Though, the commission would seek a packaged contract that would cover the two elections.

Nevertheless, it was unlikely that the funding allocation would also cover other costs like logistics and personnel allowances.

Around 178,000 vote-counting machines would be needed to accommodate the country's 71 million voters. — Jiselle Casucian/DVM, GMA Integrated News