Malfunctioning VCMs reported in three PHL posts

Malfunctioning vote counting machines were reported in at least three Philippine posts in the first two days of the month-long overseas absentee voting, a poll official said Sunday.
Commissioner Arthur Lim, head of the Office for Overeseas Voting of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said the problematic machines were reported in Hong Kong, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
"One VCM each is temporarily down in HK, Dubai, and Riyadh," Lim said. "We are addressing the situation already."
The affected machines will be shipped back to Manila and to be replaced, Lim added.
"To avoid interruption in voting, the voters in the precincts concerned will be allowed to cast/feed their ballots in the adjoining precincts, where the rest of the VCMs are operating normally,” he said.
These glitches aside, Lim said the month-long OAV period has been "so far, so good." He also said they are confident that they will meet the projected 50- to 60-percent voter turnout.
"We remain confident as we still have 28 days to go," he said.
Meanwhile, Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista said 17 Philippine posts are implementing mixed voting.
Based on Comelec Resolution No. 10052, Philippine posts are given a choice to either cast their votes through postal or personal voting.

“If you are a voter there, you have two options: You can either vote personally by going to the Embassy or Consulate; or you can mail your ballot,” he said.

The selected posts are in Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, Rome, Milan, London, Madrid, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington, Agana, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

There are three methods of voting in the OAV, namely manual personal voting, automated personal voting, and postal voting. They are voting for president, vice-president, senators, and party-list organizations.

There are a total of 1,376,067 registered voters for the overseas absentee voting. —KBK, GMA News

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