The May 9 elections were generally smooth despite some problems involving bogged down vote counting machines.Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista said about 150 vote counting machines were deployed to replace those that bogged down. Around 2,500 machines encountered problems in various areas although the rest were addressed without need of replacement.
Voting time did not start as scheduled at 6 a.m. in some areas and was extended by an hour to 6 p.m. in other areas.
Bautista said the Comelec still did better this year compared to previous elections.
In 2010, about 205 of 76,347 machines or about 0.26 percent needed to be replaced. In 2013, some 171 out 77,829 had to be replaced. This year, 150 out of 92,509 or 0.016 percent needed replacement.
The number of calls to the national support center was not as bad as in 2013. In 2010, there were 1,966 calls out of 76,347 machines that translate to a percentage of 2.57 percent. In 2013 there were 4,760 out of 77,829 machines or 6.11 percent. In 2016, as of 4 p.m., 2,363 calls were made out of 92,509 or a percentage of 2.55 percent.
There is also no information yet on areas where failure of elections was declared. Bautista said in Cordoba, Cebu, there were reports of misdelivery of ballots.
The Comelec chief said the National Board of Canvassers will try to reach the target of proclaiming the winning senators within a week.
He said among the common complaints they have received are machines not accepting ballots and the failure of the machines to print.
