Comelec may increase number of poll machines to be audited

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) may increase the number of automated poll machines to be audited, a move seen to ensure that voting equipment will be in working order for the May polls. A Comelec technical working group recommended that up to five precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines per legislative district should be audited, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in a briefing on Wednesday. "Proposals were already submitted to the en banc by the technical working group. We should expect a resolution on the matter released next week," he said. However, the Comelec has yet to decide when to conduct the audit, Larrazabal said. "I don't want to comment on that. The other matters will be contained in the resolution. I don't want to preempt," he said. For his part, Comelec chairman Jose Melo said he was not in favor of conducting the audit before the proclamation because it would cause a great delay in the announcement of the results. Meanwhile, Larrazabal said that they are always open to discuss the suggestions of groups regarding matters relating to the automated polls. "What is important is we meet and we discuss and see how we can help each other," he said. Section 24 of Republic Act 9369 requires a random manual audit to be conducted in one precinct per congressional district 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," said the provision. But groups like the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections and the Consortium of Electoral Reforms said that at least 2.5 to 3 percent of the 82,200 PCOS units or five poll machines per congressional district should be manually audited to give enough assurance that the results of the elections are credible. Some groups have earlier asserted that the random manual audit be done right after the election resultsare transmitted and before the winners are proclaimed. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV