ILOILO City – At city hall yesterday the Commission on Elections (Comelec) held a demonstration on how to use vote counting machines for the May 13 midterm elections.
City Comelec election assistant Nolan Brotarlo said their “roadshow” actually started last month yet. They visited public schools and barangays, among others.
“Most of those who watched our demos were new voters. We taught them how to properly use the vote counting machines,” said Brotarlo.
In these roadshows, Comelec also introduced the Voter’s Registration Verification Machine (VRVM) which would be used, too, on May 13, but on a trial basis. This city and Iloilo province have been chosen as pilot areas.
The poll body would be using this high-tech voter authentication scheme in a bid to catch “flying” voters and identity thieves.
VRVM is a customized tablet computer that the Board of Election Inspectors would be using to verify the voter’s identity instead of manually checking the Comelec voters list.
The biometrics of voters (fingerprints, photos, signatures, and relevant data) are encoded in the VRVM.
The goal is to make sure that only registered voters get to vote, not “flying” voters – those who are registered in multiple precincts – or those assuming the identities of other registered voters, even the dead ones.
The VRVM scans a voter’s fingerprint to determine if a voter is registered and if he belongs to a certain precinct.
If he or she is a registered voter, the gadget will display his or her information on the screen, and only after that will he or she be given a ballot.
But what happens if a registered voter’s name and information do not appear on the VRVM?
The voter may still vote as long as their names are found on the Election Day Computerized Voters List.
On election day, voters will be allowed three tries to have their fingerprint scanned and verified.
Once registration is verified, the VRVM will print out a receipt to be presented to Board of Election Inspectors, who will then provide the voter with a ballot.
Comelec central office would be shipping to Iloilo city and province 2,572 VRVM that would be used in clustered precincts./PN
