THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said up to 512 vote counting machines (VCMs) experienced problems while undergoing final testing and sealing.
This is the process wherein the condition of the VCMs delivered to polling precincts are carefully examined and tested before these are sealed to ensure that the VCMs will not be tampered with or altered until the opening of the elections on Monday, May 9, 2022.
From the 355 VCMs that experienced problems yesterday, the total already reached 512, wherein 116 have already been fixed.
Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo earlier said that most of the problems encountered by the VCMs were minor one and will be attended to by the repair hubs located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao
The number of VCMs with problems increased amid the increase in the number of machines currently undergoing final testing and sealing.
Comelec data showed that 65,857 VCMs went through final testing. This amounts to 62 percent from the more than 106,000 VCMs to be used on May 9.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that almost 2,000 back-up VCMs with external batteries so it can be used in case of power outage have already been deployed to other parts of the country.
Aside from this, 91 SD cards encountered problems and were immediately replaced.