THE Commission on Elections is now eyeing to use new machines with Internet capability after the 2022 National and Local polls.
Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said they are considering phasing out the over 97,000 vote counting machines (VCM), which they have been using since the 2016 elections.
“By 2025 elections, hopefully we will have new machines,” Casquejo said after their inspection activity at the Comelec warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna on Tuesday.
“Maybe after 2022, there will be new technology [which could be used] for the elections,” he added.
He said they will be considering procuring machines which could allow Internet voting or those with direct-recording electronic (DRE) capability, to enable voters to pick their candidates using a touch screen ballot.
Lack of components
As for the old VCMs, Casquejo said they may use these units for the conduct of special elections and plebiscite, which are currently still being held manually.
To note, Comelec is currently selling its 80,000 units of old Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) for P187 million to free up space in its warehouse in Laguna.
Casquejo noted they could no longer refurbish the said PCOS units, which were used by Comelec from 2010 to 2013, due to the lack of available components.
Possible adjustment
Comelec is also trying to lease an additional 10,000 VCMs for the 2022 polls to decongest polling precincts and minimize possible infections in the said venues, given the projection that the Covid-19 pandemic will still be prevalent come May 2022.
If successfully bidded out and awarded to a service provider, Casquejo said the additional VCMs will allow them to reduce the number of voters per voting precincts in 2022 polls from 1,000 to just 800.
Comelec declared a failed bidding for the P600-million contract last week as service providers complained that the approved budget for it has become insufficient to cover the additional manufacturing and logistics cost caused by the pandemic.
Casquejo said they may consider adjusting the approved budget for the contract during their next bidding for the lease contract in November.