Faulty SD cards delay proclamation of some Eastern Visayas winners

TACLOBAN CITY — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing the proclamation of all winners in local positions within Tuesday as they rush to configure corrupted SD (secure digital) cards.

At least 30 SD cards are still being fixed as of Tuesday morning, affecting the proclamation of winners, including in such major areas as Tacloban City in Leyte, Calbayog City in Samar and Ormoc City in Leyte, said Comelec-Eastern Visayas Regional Director Rafael Olaño.

“Our election officers don’t want to proclaim the winners based on unofficial and partial counts. It’s better if we have the actual number of votes before the official proclamation,” Olaño told reporters.

The SD cards contain the data on the ballots fed into the vote counting machines (VCMs).

Corrupted cards were also reported in Marabut, Samar; San Vicente, Northern Samar; Jiabong, Samar; Laoang, Northern Samar; Caibiran, Biliran; and Sta. Margarita, Samar.

Since Monday night, election officers and members of the electoral board have been bringing faulty SD cards to the regional office for fixing. The Comelec regional office sends an electronic request for configuration files from the Comelec main office warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Once the configuration files is sent to the regional office, a technical staff fixes the defective card using electronic files.

“It takes times before we get the configuration file for each card since there are a lot of faulty cards nationwide,” Olaño said.

Uncounted ballots are heavily guarded by policemen and watchers of candidates.

After fixing the cards, these ballots will be fed by members of the electoral board to the VCMs. After the counting, a machine transmits the data to the city and municipal board of canvassers, and the Comelec main office.