By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said new innovations introduced in the May 12 midterm polls have benefitted many voters.
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia reported in a press briefing that voters have relied on early voting and mall voting features when they cast their votes.
“Many voters have benefited from innovations implemented in this election such as early voting and mall voting,” he said.
The early voting feature benefitted members of the vulnerable sectors, including senior citizens, persons with disabilities and pregnant women, where they were allowed to cast their votes as early as 5:00 a.m..
Further, Garcia reported that 311 automated counting machines (ACMs) encountered minor problems, but these were immediately resolved and did not disrupt the voting process.
Some of the issues encountered by the Comelec on election day were: the ACM itself (15), ACM cover (13), ACM scanner (77), ACM screen (11), ballots (5), manual audit (8), operational concern (2), procedural (1), smart card (1), thermal cutter (60), thermal paper (35), thermal printer (10), and USB device (10).
“In 2022, the Project Management Office would agree on this statement that during the Final Testing and Sealing, there were 2,000 ACMs that encountered problems,” Garcia said.
Also, the poll body chief reported that they have recorded fewer election-related violence (ERVs) in the May 2025 polls as compared to the last two elections.
“When it comes to election-related violence, more or less, we have 44. It’s still the lowest in the three elections we have,” he said.
