Comelec not keen on increasing voters per precinct despite faster ACMs

FILE PHOTO: Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia. INQUIRER / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will not add more voters in each polling precinct despite faster turnaround of automated counting machines (ACMs), Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Saturday.

During the sidelines of the mock elections in Sulu, Garcia said that the poll body has already finished designating a project of precincts. On election day, Garcia said that 10 voters must be allowed inside a polling precinct to cast their votes.

“The numbers of voters per precinct are already fixed because we finished the project of precincts. We finish assigning locations of precincts and schools,” Garcia answered in Filipino when asked if the poll body would increase the number of voters in a polling precinct due to the time and motion of the voting process.

READ: Comelec irons out kinks, voters try shading limits in Sulu mock polls

Garcia said that it will only take less than two minutes for an ACM to finish doing its job.

He noted that the machine will accept a ballot two to three seconds after the feeding of ballots. It will then take the machine for 14 seconds to verify the ballot to identify its secret markings and if it is properly precinct-designated.

He added that the machine will then print the receipts for two seconds while the process of showing the image of votes from the 14-inch touch screen to check if it matches with the receipts will take for 20 seconds.

The poll body chief noted that what slows down the whole voting process is the voting itself. He then advised voters to have their “kodigo” (list of candidates to vote) ready before they enter the poll precincts to save time.

Meanwhile, Garcia said that the mock polls conducted across 15 areas in the country, as well as the test of online voting in Singapore, were successful.

The mock elections are done to determine if the ACMs, batteries, and other election paraphernalias are working properly.

It was rescheduled from its original schedule of January 18, 2025 after Comelec had to halt the printing of ballots after receiving the temporary restraining orders from the Supreme Court that acted on the cases filed by five disqualified poll aspirants.

READ: Francis Leo Marcos’ withdrawal from Senate race delays ballot printing

The reprinting of ballots will commence on Monday, January 27, shortly after Norman Mangusin, or Francis Leo Marcos, withdrew from the Senate race.

Mangusin was earlier declared by the Comelec as a nuisance candidate. However, a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court reversed Comelec’s decision, letting him run in the May polls.

This led to his inclusion in the list of the ballots, which halted the supposed reprinting of ballots on Wednesday, January 22.