SOME 44 vote counting machines (VCMs) in Negros Occidental, including one Bacolod City, were found defective as of 7 p.m. yesterday, May 9.

The Provincial Election Monitoring Action Center (Pemac) reported that 33 of these VCMs have been replaced already while the rest are yet to be changed or fixed.

There were also 15 areas with power interruptions but as of this writing only one of which has no electricity yet, Pemac also reported.

‘Generally peaceful’

For their part, the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office (Nocppo) stressed that the conduct of the elections in the province yesterday was generally peaceful.

Aside from issues on the VCMs, there are also numerous complaints of voters unable to find their names on the list.

Some of the voters who were unable to find their names immediately went to their respective Comelec offices in their localities and it was later determined that they were already deactivated.

However, despite the unforgiving heat and the technical issues which hounded the elections in the city and province, the people still exercised cooler heads and patiently waited their turn at the polling precincts.

Compared to other areas in the country, Nocppo spokesperson Police Lt. Abegael Donasco said they have not recorded any major incidents which could affect the elections in Negros Occidental.

Everything went smoothly, she added.*