2010 polls said to be "most advanced"

 CEBU, Philippines -  Commission on Elections Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said he considers the May 2010 election to be the most complicated and advanced election in the world during a press conference yesterday at the Indiana Aerospace University.

“It is the most complicated and advanced election on the world that is why many people will come here from other countries to witness,” he said.

Updates on the Comelec preparations for the upcoming elections were also discussed by Larrazabal such as the teacher’s training and the official ballot printing.

April 25 is the target date of the COMELEC to finish the 20 million ballots. To prevent tampering, the ballots will be placed in a sealed box before it will be distributed to the designated areas in the country. A Precinct Count Optical Scan machine was presented to reporters for a brief voter’s education.

Larrazabal assured the accuracy of the PCOS machines explaining that each unit passed an accuracy test in China before being shipped to the Philippines and each unit will undergo random testing again.

In the process of clustering more precincts to one PCOS machines, the voting hours have been extended and will run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to make sure that all registered voters in the designated precinct can vote.

In case any voters have not voted yet as of 6 p.m., the precinct chairman will go out to call the names of the voters twice. The voter should be within 30 meters of the precinct for him or her to be considered as still eligible to vote. — Antoniette T. Parce/BRP   FREEMAN NEWS)