CEBU, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in Mandaue City is set to go around the city’s 27 barangays and other election stakeholders in line with the nationwide roadshow caravan for the automated counting machine (ACM).
The poll body will be conducting a demonstration of the automated counting machine to be used in the May 2025 midterm elections. Comelec kicked off the roadshow last Monday December 2, that would cover all barangays in every municipality and city in the country. The voters’ education campaign will run until Jan. 30, 2025.
In Mandaue City, the ACM roadshow started at the Sports Complex on Monday and continued yesterday. The first barangay to be visited by the Comelec is Barangay Tawason, Mandaue City, today, December 4.
Mandaue Election Assistant II Jacqueline Reuyan said that many barangays have already scheduled with them to participate in the demonstration. For this month, the scheduled barangays are Canduman, Opao, Tingub, Subangdaku, Bakilid, Cubacub, and Cambaro.
Reuyan said the roadshow includes live demonstrations of the automated counting machine (ACM), allowing voters to familiarize themselves with the new technology.
“At least makahibaw na daan ang mga botante kung unsaon nila inig panahon na sa election day. At least naa na silay idea unsaon pag shade, pag feed, and know the instructions,” Reuyan told reporters yesterday, December 12.
She said that both newly registered and old voters have the opportunity to experience how to use the ACM. However, only 20 mock ballots are allocated per barangay.
Reuyan said that Mandaue City has 238,106 registered voters with 271 clustered precincts, based on Comelec’s statistics as of October 14, 2024.
According to the Comelec, the ACM has cutting-edge features such as a 14-inch touchscreen, sensor, scanner, printer, camera, universal serial bus ports, external keypad and a voter’s receipt receptacle.
South Korean joint venture firm Miru Systems was tapped by Comelec as the service provider of the new Full Automation System with Transparency and Audit/Count (FASTrAC) for the 2025 midterm elections.
The key components of FASTrAC include the ACM, the consolidation and canvassing system, the election management system, the online voting and counting system, and the secure electronic transmission services. — (FREEMAN)