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VCM causes problems, delay in some polling precinct

Some voters took to social media to vent their frustrations after some Vote Counting Machines (VCM) caused some setbacks in some precincts during today’s midterm elections.

In one instance, Ram Villanueva Ferrer, a voter at Severina Community Center Precinct 775A in Paranaque City, shared on Facebook that their ballots keeps getting stuck in the machine which caused delay in the voting process.

“The problem with the VCM is hindi niya binibitawan ng buo ‘yung voting sheet kaya ang lumalabas na error is paper jam. Hindi dumederecho sa receptacle ‘yung voting sheet,” Ferrer told The Filipino Times.

“‘Yung naunang five voters sa akin same ang nangyari. So what the teachers did is to lift the machine and pull the voting sheet para mahulog sa receptacle,” he said.

He said that he was able to successfully cast his vote but the paper jam took a lot of time.

In another instance, Annie Cristhel L. Alberto, a voter in Sabang Elementary School, had a similar voting experience after the VCM in that location did not read their votes.

As seen in the video she has posted on Facebook, several voters got stuck in line because of the problem encountered.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the poll body has allotted only one ballot per voter.

The ballot needs to be inserted four times inside the VCM before it will be declared spoiled ballot.
If the problem is the VCM itself, the Board of Election Inspector should request for a replacement. But if the problem is isolated to one or two ballots only, then the problem is presumably not the VCM, he said in an interview.

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