New York Consulate temporarily suspends ballot feeding after VCM issue
MANILA, Philippines (Corrected 10:03 a.m., April 24) — The Philippine Consulate in New York said it is temporarily suspending ballot feeding after one of its Vote Counting Machines encountered a technical issue.
Ballot feeding will resume on Monday, April 25, it added in an announcement.
In an advisory, the Consulate said one of its VCM encountered a technical issue during the latter part of the ballot feeding process when one of two remaining ballots got stuck inside one of the VCMs.
Election observers witnessed it and the incident was also captured on the live Facebook video stream, the consulate added.
“Although a secondary VCM is available, the Consulate decided to suspend the ballot feeding until it receives guidance from the Commission on Elections whether said VCM, which has not undergone final testing, can be utilized.
The consulate said that since the poll body cannot immediately response to them due to time difference, they decided to resume feeding the remaiing ballots on April 25, Monday.
“By then, Comelec guidance would already have been given,” it added.
Overseas absentee voting for the 2022 national elections started on April 10 and will continue until May 9. — Kristine Joy Patag
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(Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article reported that ballot feeding would resume on February 25. This has been corrected to reflect that ballot feeding resumes April 25.)
A thread on reports about the Philippines' absentee and overseas voting for the May 2022 elections.
Main Photo:
Commission on Elections Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan leads the ceremonial sealing and send-off of trailer trucks which will transport the vote counting machines or VCMs and other election paraphernalia from the Comelec warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna to various regional hubs on Saturday midnight, April 2, 2022 in preparation for the coming May 9 polls.
The STAR/Miguel de Guzman
Another vote counting machine used in ballot feeding for overseas voting had malfunctioned, the Philippine Consulate General in New York says.
This is the third VCM assigned to the consulate that could no longer be used after malfunctioning.
"Just the same, the Consulate will continue ballot feeding using its last remaining functioning VCM," the consulate says.
Overseas Filipinos in Italy can start claiming their mailing packets or accomplish their ballots and return it on the same day, the Philippine Embassy in Rome says.
"These voters may pick up their mailing packets containing their ballots from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, 11 April 2022 to 17 April 2022," the embassy says in an advisory.
Meanwhile, mailing packets that are not picked up after April 17 will be sent through postal service.
Vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte calls alleged social media reports of pre-shaded ballots with her name on them in Singapore and Dubai "grossly disconcerting."
"As a politician, my experience has taught me that Filipinos do not respect those who cheat and engage in election fraud," says Davao City Mayor Duterte, who is President Rodrigo Duterte's only daughter.
"I never have and will never condone cheating. I won my past elections because the people voted for me," she adds in a statement.
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