By Ferdinand Patinio/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Philippine posts abroad have started conducting the final testing and sealing (FTS) of the vote counting machines (VCMs) for overseas absentee voting.
“Final testing and sealing of vote counting machines for overseas voting started,” said Director Elaiza David, Comelec-Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV), in a notice published in the Comelec website.
The official said some Philippine posts started the FTS last Saturday and some as early as Thursday last week.
The FTS will have an end-to-end test of the process, from the initialization of the machines, to the voting of 10 people, to the feeding of the accomplished ballots to the VCMs, and until the printing of election returns (ERs).
Lastly, the poll body will seal and lock the VCMs in the Philippine posts and will not be opened again until the start of the elections.
A total of 41 out of the 83 countries/posts will be using the VCMs during the period for overseas voting from April 13 to May 13.
Data from the Comelec-OFOV show a total of 1,822,173 overseas absentee voters.
There are various modes in casting their votes under the OAV — automated voting using the VCMs, manual voting through posting, and personal voting.
Filipinos abroad are only selecting candidates for national positions, 12 senators and one party-list group.
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