Batch feeding of ballots legal, part of contingency resolution

MANILA, Philippines — Batch feeding of ballots through the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in the event of a VCM malfunction is legal, the Comelec said on Monday.

Following reports of concerned voters where they were asked to leave their ballots to the BEI in the precincts with malfunctioning VCMs, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that this was simply part of the contingency plan.

"Meron tayong contingency resolution and one of the contingencies outlined there is that the machine refuses to function or magkakaron ng delay sa replacemnt," Jimenez said.

(We have a contingency resolution and one of the contingencies outlined there is that the machine refuses to function or there will be delays in the replacement)

"Talagang nagkaka-batch feeding, meaning to say iniiwan yung balota and then its the BEI who feeds the ballots into the machine," He said.

(It's normal to have batch feeding, meaning to say voters will leave their ballots and then its the BEI who feeds the ballots into the machine)

According to the Comelec Resolution 10497 or the Contingency Plans of the Comelec, voters will have two options while waiting for a VCM malfunction to be resolved.

Either the voters proceed in casting their votes with their ballots to be batch-fed by the BEI before the close of the polls, or they opt to wait for the VCM malfunction to be resolved before voting.

But with that contingency plan in effect, voters whose ballots are to be batch fed will be unable to verify their votes through the receipt.

The receipt would have been printed after the voters feed their ballots into the VCM.

Despite this, Jimenez maintains that this is just how the situation is meant to be addressed.

"It's part of the procedure," Jimenez said.