THE Commission on Election (Comelec) in Cebu will conduct mock polls on Saturday, Jan. 19 to test the accuracy of automated voting and automated transmittal of votes. Acting Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Jerome Brillantes said the mock elections will be held in Barangay Mabolo and Lusaran, both in Cebu City; and Barangays Poblacion and Cabutongan in Santander, Cebu. “It will be a roadshow to educate the people using the vote counting machine (VCM). Although we used the VCM in the previous election using PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machine, the voters must be more familiar about it,” Brillantes said. He added that the candidates in the mock election must be fictitious, maybe a group of singers or a group of actors. In the past mock elections, only 10 people were allowed to vote in each precinct. However, Brillantes said they will increase that to 100 this time. There are more than three million voters in Cebu, including highly urbanized cities like Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, Brillantes said. (EOB)