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MALVAR, Batangas – Results from the manual counting of votes in Malvar, Batangas showed minor discrepancies with the automated election system results.
“Baka ako ang mali, lagi kasi akong nakakatulog (Maybe it was my mistake because I always doze off),” said Random Manual Audit Team (RMAT) co-chairman Belen Terrago.
Clustered Precinct No. (CP) 13 of Bgy Luta Sur, Malvar, Batangas was one of the 234 randomly chosen precincts by Comelec to be subject to a Random Manual Audit (RMA).
As stated in the final minutes submitted by the RMAT, “there are discrepancies in terms of variance but only a little gap” was observed for PCOS machine of CP No. 13.
PCOS malfunctions and delays
The audit, which was supposed to start right after election results were printed, was delayed in the precinct.
This was because the PCOS machine in the precicnt has been malfunctioning after a 3-hour power outage in the morning of election day, May 13.
According PCOS technician Rhea Tierra, the power outage was succeeded by several paper jams of the PCOS machine.
The PCOS machine has been rejecting ballots since 1:55 pm, she said.
At 8:25 pm, back-up PCOS machines arrived to load the uncounted ballots of the precinct.
Loading, printing of election results, and sealing of the ballots took more than 3 hours.
The audit started at exactly 11:25 pm and as of 1:00 am, only the first hundred of the ballots were counted.
Delayed RMAT
Manual ballot counting was temporarily paused at around 3 am, as majority of the RMAT said they were too tired and sleepy to continue.
RMAT chairman Minerva de Villa called for a recess, saying they would not risk accuracy over speed of the results.
Counting resumed the next day at exactly 7:00 am. It was supposed to start an hour earlier but was delayed due to a short power interruption.
After more than 12 hours since they started the audit, the RMAT conducted the final sealing and signing of the results.
See manual audit the results here:
– Rappler.com
Josa Salazar is a Rappler Ambassador.
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