BY: JOSE ROBERT INVENTOR
From the manual counting of votes during elections, the country transitioned to automated counting machines in 2010.
For the upcoming 2025 midterm elections, a new automated counting machine will be used.
To educate voters, especially in remote areas, COMELEC launched a nationwide voter education roadshow.
Last January 6, they visited Barangay Tawangan in Kabayan, Benguet, a remote area with narrow roads and frequent landslides.
The trip from the town center takes about two hours.
“I’m unfamiliar with this new system. It’s my first time seeing it,” said ‘Maria’, a voter.
Some voters experimented by inserting the ballot backward to test if it would still be read.
Others tried undervoting and overvoting, but the machine successfully processed the ballots, matching the marked choices.
“I tested it and did everything I could. It works well,” she added.
According to Alexander Penrad, Election Officer II of the COMELEC-Kabayan, “COMELEC is very confident about this system, especially in the field. This isn’t the first automated counting machine, we’ve been using them since 2010. We’re confident the public will accept it.”
This is just the beginning of efforts to familiarize voters with the new system and dispel doubts about fraud ahead of the May 2025 local and national elections.
