PPCRV records voter turnout of 80.27%

MANILA, Philippines — Most of the registered voters trooped to polling precincts last Monday, for an overall voter turnout of 80.27 percent, which a church-based election watchdog considered as “very high,” though slightly lower than in the previous national elections.

“The voter turnout was very good. We estimated that at 80.27 percent. There was a very high turnout in the south, Mindanao,” said Ana Singson, national communications director of the Catholic Church-affiliated Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).

In the 2022 presidential elections, voter turnout was 83 percent.

She explained that there is usually a wide difference between general and midterm elections in terms of voter turnout.

The PPCRV also noted that in previous elections, the bulk of voters would show up at polling precincts by mid-afternoon or late afternoon.

Last Monday, long queues were reported as early as 7:15 a.m. outside polling precincts.

“People were very passionate and excited about the election, which is good. We need an excited voting population,” Singson said.

The PPCRV also reported that as of 10:22 a.m. yesterday, it had already received 97.34 percent transmission of results.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has, so far, the lowest transmission of election returns (ERs) having only transmitted 74.33 percent. The PPCRV is still waiting for transmissions from 918 automated counting machines (ACMs) out of the total 3,576 ACMs in the region.

The PPCRV said there might have been complications in the transmission of ERs because BARMM registered the highest “transmitted imported” – a situation where ACMs have to be brought to the municipalities where transmission of data originates, and not from the polling precincts. Out of the 2,658 transmissions, 35 were categorized as “transmitted imported.”

In Region 9, transmission was at 94.86 percent, the lowest. Region 3 posted the highest percentage of transmission at 99.31 percent.

The PPCRV also said it has received a “critical mass” of printed ERs and is calling for more volunteers to verify the election results.

“Now with more ERs coming in, we call for more volunteers… We already have critical mass because we already have 12.71 percent and more coming in,” Singson said.

She said that unofficial parallel counting of votes “is very important because we will actually check the integrity of the transmitted votes… The audit is critical.”

At any given time, the PPCRV can accommodate 185 volunteers to man its 185 stations, but if needed, they could expand the number of their stations to 240.

Interested volunteers may proceed to the PPCRV Command Center at the PLDT Building on España Boulevard in Manila. - Ej Macababbad