FINAL TEST. Personnel of the Commission on Elections prepare to conduct the final testing and sealing of voting machines for the Oct. 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections at the Pasong Tamo Elementary School in Quezon City on Oct. 25, 2023. The Comelec on Monday (April 29, 2024) said it is looking to hold a three-month demonstration of the automated counting machines to be used in the 2025 midterm elections in order to familiarize voters. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to hold a three-month demonstration of the automated counting machines (ACM) to be used in the 2025 midterm elections to familiarize voters.
In an interview Monday, Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the demonstration in communities will run from December to February next year.
“Di man namin ma-ikot lahat ng 42,000 barangays, ang habol namin ma-cluster man lang namin. Example, Barangay 1, 2, 3, dito tayo sa covered court. Ide-demo namin sa inyo ang makina (Even if we do not reach all 42,000 barangays, we will just do clustering. Example, for residents of Barangays 1, 2, 3, we will do it in a covered court. We will hold a demonstration of the machines)," he said.
The Comelec would also come up with an information campaign on the use of the machines which would cover various platforms.
The demonstration of the machines for electoral boards and the teachers will also be conducted later this year.
Laudiangco said the initial batch of 2,000 ACMs may arrive from South Korea by June or July.
The poll body’s information technology division and election officers would be trained first.
“By the time dumating ang 2,000 demo machines, election officers na natin magde-demo (By the time all 2,000 machines arrive, our election officers will do the demo)," he added.
The poll body expects all ACMs to be delivered by early 2025 as these must undergo end-to-end certification.
South Korean venture Miru Systems won the bidding for the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit and Count (FASTrAC) project.
Under the project, the company will produce 110,000 ACMs to be used in next year’s elections. (PNA)
