DASMARIÑAS
CITY, Cavite (PIA) — The
Commission on Elections
(COMELEC) said the pilot implementation of automated Barangay and
Sangguniang Kabataan
Elections (BSKE) in Dasmariñas City and other pilot testing areas was successful due to the massive
turnout of voters on October 30, Monday.
COMELEC chair
George Garcia visited
Dasmariñas City to oversee the automated polls in
four (4) schools, including
Paliparan III Elementary
School, Dasmariñas Elementary School, Pitong
Gubat Elementary School,
and Paliparan National
High School. Dasmariñas
and Quezon City in Metro
Manila were the two cities
chosen for the conduct of
the automated BSKE.
“Voting has been
faster for everyone compared to manually writing
down their votes,” Garcia
said.
The COMELEC
chief said they were prepared to address issues
that could arise during
the automated BSKE
such as malfunctioning
Vote Counting Machines
(VCMs) due to paper jamming.
In Cavite Province alone, Garcia said
they have 400 VCMs on
standby to replace malfunctioning machines.
He added: “In
fact, nung final testing and
sealing [of VCMs] naranasan na po natin ito. Ito
‘yung sinasabi natin na
hindi talaga maaasahang magpe-perform nang
maayos mga makinang
‘yan. But just the same,
ginagawa natin ito para
maipakita natin ang manual election at automated
election.”
Meanwhile, the
Cavite Police Provincial
Office said that the conduct of the 2023 barangay
and SK polls went generally peaceful.
“Masasabi ko po
na itong Barangay and
Sangguniang Kabataan
Elections ay peaceful, at
inaasahan na hanggang
matapos ang eleksyon ay
mapapanatiiling tahimik,
payapa, at maayos dito sa
probinsya ng Cavite.” said
Chief Provincial Public Information Officer, PCapt.
Michelle Bastawang.
The COMELEC
said there are 15,660,770
registered voters in the
Calabarzon region for the
October 2023 polls, with
the highest voter turnout
expected in Cavite province with 2,391,540 voters.
