Comelec ready to deploy ACMs for BARMM elections

MANILA, Philippines — This early, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is ready to deploy automated counting machines or ACMs that will be used for the first parliamentary election in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

At a press briefing yesterday, Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said that with 89 days to go before the BARMM election, the poll body is preparing to deploy 6,440 ACMs in 5,212 voting precincts in the region.

Laudiangco said the Comelec has 1,228 extra ACMs as backups in case some machines will malfunction on election day.

There are eight repair hubs designated around BARMM to ensure that no ACM shortage will occur during voting, he said.

The Comelec has given assurance that power outages, which is a common occurrence in BARMM, will not hamper the voting as the machine’s battery can last for four days.

Laudiangco said that ballot printing has yet to start, but it would take the Comelec only three weeks to complete the printing of 2.3 million ballots needed for the electoral exercise.

He said the poll body would use good quality paper to ensure that it can absorb the ink of markers that will be used for voting.

The Comelec has conducted local source code review, field test and mock elections with an international certifying entity to ensure that everything is ready.