By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – A total of 17 Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) in Negros Occidental were found defective last Saturday during the final testing and sealing for Monday’s National and Local Elections.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Negros Occidental Elections Supervisor Atty. Roberto Salazar said some of the major issues they found include failure to scan, ballot jam, ballot misreading, broken down printer compartments, and one reconfigured SD card.
The defective VCMs were immediately shipped out and delivered to the Regional VCM Repair Hub in Cebu City.
The Comelec immediately replaced the defective VCMs with the standby machines.
Negros Occidental has a total of 50 standby VCMs, while Bacolod City has two units.
The defective VCMs, meanwhile, were immediately fixed and returned to the province yesterday, and they are now placed on standby in case more VCMs fail to work today.
