COMELEC Caraga readies for Barangay Election in December 2022
By Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY -- After a peaceful conduct of the May 9, 2022 national and local elections, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Caraga is now preparing for the upcoming Barangay Election in December.
The COMELEC called on the electorates to help and contribute to the upcoming event, just as they supported the recently concluded elections in the region.
“Voter’s registration will resume in July 2022, and we have noted all the issues and concerns that were raised during the May 9, 2022 national and local elections that could help improve our strategies in making our upcoming election successful,” said Atty. Geraldine Samson, assistant regional election director of COMELEC Caraga.
Samson thanked all the sectors in the region for actively participating in the national and local elections and for making it peaceful.
“I’d like to give credit to all the Caraganons who are peace-loving people in helping us make the elections peaceful and orderly. Thank you also to all the law enforcement agencies for providing the best security for our teachers who served during the national and local elections in the different polling centers, as well as to the women and men of COMELEC Caraga for all your hard work and sacrifices,” she said.
When asked how many defective vote-counting machines (VCMs) that were reported during the conduct of the May 9, 2022 national and local elections, Samson revealed that there were a total of 27 defective VCMs and two defective SD cards reported from various polling centers/precincts in the region, but it was immediately fixed as there are designated technical hubs available in every province, and there are readily available contingency machines.
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“We have 13 contingency VCMs for Agusan del Norte; 11 for Surigao del Norte; and 17 for Surigao del Sur,” she added.
In precincts that encountered defective vote-counting machines (VCMs), voters were asked to choose from two options (per COMELEC guidelines) -– to wait until the machine is fixed and so they could personally feed their ballot to the VCM, or to sign a waiver and allow the BEI to feed it on the machine, should they want to leave the polling center after they cast their votes.
“Should they choose option 2 which is to sign a waiver, there’s nothing to be worried about because there are also watchers inside the precinct who could see if the ballots are already fed to the machine and their votes will be counted,” she said.
She further assured that the COMELEC has noted all the issues and concerns raised during the May 2022 elections, and stressed that the COMELEC along with other law enforcement agencies will improve its strategies to better serve the Caraganon electorates for the upcoming barangay election. (JPG/PIA-Caraga)
