ADDU Blue Vote: Statistics On VCM Concerns

The Ateneo Blue Vote which is under the University Advocacy and Engagement Council (UCEAC), the electoral engagement platform of Ateneo, who was led by Janelle Estocapio one of the coordinators of the AdDU Blue Vote, helped in assisting voters throughout the entire voting process last May 9, 2022.

It is one of the community engagements and one of the advocacies of Ateneo, primarily focusing on politics, electoral processes, and electoral education. They take volunteers to help them assist the voters during the voting process as well as social media assistance, catering to voters all over Davao, assisted by the legal team from Ateneo Law School.

“Sa volunteers, meron tayong tinatawag na pollwatcher, volunteer’s assistance, observer for Random Manual Audit; majority ng aming volunteers naka assign sila sa volunteer’s assistance desk. Pagpasok mo ng voting center mo, nandun na ag volunteer’s assistance desk. Tintulungan nila ang mga voters na hanapin yung precinct number nila,” Estocapio stated.

The Ateneo Blue Vote works not just during election time. They reach out to the communities formerly but because of the pandemic, they conducted educational webinars; mainly, they talk about social justice, gender equality, and any politics-related topics.

She added, “For the presidential election, three months before or three months earlier, we have already conducted voters’ education. The voters’ education and political education are like modules on how to vote for the right leaders.”

Aside from this, they also partner with NAMFREL and PPCRV, who are the credited citizens’ watch of COMELEC, to ensure and organize a set of volunteers who will be watching out during the elections, and that includes working at the volunteer’s assistance desk and at the same time, when needed, collecting a hard copy of the Electoral Returns.

Defective Vote Counting Machines

The failure of around 2,000 vote-counting machines (VCMs) across the country overshadowed the automated national and municipal elections on Monday, causing the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to reject them in future polls.

Paper jams (940 instances), rejected ballots (606), malfunctioning VCM scanners (158), printers failing to provide output (87), and not printing correctly were among the issues recorded (76).

According to COMELEC Commissioner George Garcia, at least 1,867 polling precincts reported malfunctioning VCMs by 10AM on election day. However, the technical concerns with the technology were later fixed.

The COMELEC stated that 51 VCMs and 102 SD cards needed to be replaced at 11AM. According to Casquejo, the COMELEC has 1,900 contingency VCMs on standby.

The final testing and sealing of all 106,174 voting precinct VCMs was “not a guarantee that they will not malfunction,” Garcia stated.

After numerous reports of voters standing in line for hours on election day due to malfunctioning vote-counting devices throughout polling sites in the Philippines, many Filipinos urged that the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) extend voting hours. #ExtendVotingHoursPH became a top trending topic on Twitter on the evening of May 9, 2022, due to the common opinion.

COMELEC advised that voters in precincts with broken equipment leave their ballots with electoral board members, who would put the ballots into the machines while away, surrendering their right to inspect the voting receipt that would validate their votes.

This did not sit well with many voters, who claimed that this would make their ballots vulnerable to tampering and insisted on voting until operational machines arrived.

COMELEC has not extended voting hours as of the time of writing. (Angela Agnes Blanco – ADDU Intern | Photo by Janelle Estocapio)