BAGUIO City – The Commission on Elections started last week the trainings of Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) despite the setbacks on preparation for the May elections with the recent Supreme Court ruling directed the poll body to it to issue receipts that would serve as voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT).
Benguet Provincial Supervisor Atty. Ricardo Lampac said the all of the eight divisions of Cordillera will push through the scheduled training from March 10-24 for the 4,000 BEIs who will be deployed to 1,361 voting centers in the region.
“Pag-idedelay pa namin and trainings, mabibitin yung oras for preparation and nakacommit ang Dep-Ed kasi gahol na din ang oras ng Dep-Ed. Definitely meron na kaming understanding naitutuloy,” Lampac added.
The training started last Thursday for the first batch of BEIs for Baguio City and Benguet.
The COMELEC recently demonstrated the features and operation of the vote counting machines which will be used during the upcoming elections. The VCM is an updated version of the Precinct Count optical Scan (PCOS) machine of Smartmatic provider.
Improved features include larger memory from 32MB to 1GB and the data storage was upgraded from compact flash (CF) to secure digital (SD) card. The VCM machines are designed to have two data storage cards for automatic back-up, and with a bigger liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor for the voter to follow instructions clearly and avoid spoilage of vote.
For persons with disabilities, the VCM is designed with a side slot of headset that can be used by the visually impaired voter and still follow voting instructions correctly.
Each of the VCM machines will be configured to process only registered voters with biometrics in a certain precinct./JDP/RMC/ A. Clemente & L. Alimondo –PIA CAR interns
