Extra vote counting machines readied as backup for polls
Credit to Author: Rhodina Villanueva| Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Around 11,000 extra voting machines will be available as backup for the May 2025 national and local elections, the Commission on Elections announced.
“Since we came up with 94,000 (polling) precincts nationwide, more or less, we have 11,000 excess machines,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said at a briefing on Friday.
According to Garcia, the spare machines will be allocated as contingency units, with eight machines assigned to each municipality and 10 to each province.
“If a problem occurs as to the use of the machine, we can immediately have it replaced and no need to wait for the repair of the machine that malfunctioned,” he said as he explained how the contingency plan ensures uninterrupted voting operations.
This marks the first time the Comelec has prepared such a large number of backup machines.
Garcia also mentioned that regional offices may receive additional contingency machines.
Furthermore, Garcia confirmed that the establishment of Comelec’s 110 repair hubs nationwide is nearing completion.
The Comelec also reported that 72 percent of the total ballots needed for the election have been printed, which amounts to approximately 52 million of the 72 million required ballots.
Garcia projected that ballot printing would be completed by March 14, with verification slated for April 20.
“By that time, only ballots to be used for the National Capital Region and nearby areas are the ones left for verification while the other ballots have already been deployed in different areas in the country,” he said.