AS THE final testing of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) ended on Friday, May 6, several glitches were encountered by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), a Commission on Elections (Comelec) officer said.
City Comelec Officer lawyer Joel Dexter Nagtalon told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro there are 10 “contingency” VCMs that could be opted once fixing the machines with mechanical problems won’t work.
"First sulayan pa pag-fix sa atong BEI, kung dili madala, adtuon gayud sa VCM technician, kung dili gihapon, tawagan ang coordinator, and if again dili pa sad, tawagan na gayud nato ang national technical control center," Nagtalon explained the process to be undertaken once VCMs stop functioning.
During the final testing and sealing in this city's 61 polling centers, a defective secure digital (SD) card had been reported in Barangay Dansolihon, an upland barangay in the city.
"Kung dili siya mubasa, dili pud mo-work ang atong makina, but na-solve naman hinuon with the help of our technicians," Nagtalon assured.
A VCM includes election paraphernalia such as three iButton, SIM card, SD Woorm memory cards, 3gb USB, 10 final testing and sealing ballots, adaptor, marker pens, battery cable, and thermal paper.
At City Central School, a VCM suddenly stopped working.
"Ang isa nag-hang daw nga igo ra mag-on pero dili na dayon mo-process sa operations," said Nagtalon adding that it will be replaced with one of the 10 contingency VCMs allotted in the city.
Another contingency machine was transported to West City Central School in Barangay Carmen.
Also, another contingency VCM was brought to West City Central School yesterday to replace the counting machine that overheated which resulted to smoke coming out from it.
Paper jam was seen as a minor problem by the BEIs, however Ngatalon said this can be easily solved by proper insertion of ballots into the VCMs.
When asked if there had been reported incidents on vote-switching
Nagtalon, however, said there were no reported incidents for alleged vote-switching, an clamor that has went viral online.
About 448 VCMs will be used for the 61 polling centers in the city on Monday, May 9.