PPCRV backs activation of VCMs’ on-screen voter verification feature

MANILA—The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), an accredited citizens’ arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), supports the poll body’s plan to activate the on-screen voter verification feature of the vote counting machines (VCMs).

But PPCRV recommended that the screening process should be not more than 30 seconds.

Henrietta de Villa, PPCRV Chairperson, noted that based on consensus of field coordinators on-screen voter verification was acceptable but it should be half a minute only.

“Viewing on monitor can be done but Comelec should study well the time and motion and install specific viewing time of about 15 to 30 seconds only,” she said in an interview.

De Villa added, “Viewing the vote monitor could unduly delay voting and generate long queuing.”

The Comelec has shortened the voting period on Election Day, which is from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On Wednesday, Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista said the poll body was looking to activate the on-screen voter verification feature of the machines.

“Members of the en banc now have a more positive inclination (of allowing it). But we still have some more details to study before deciding,” he said an earlier interview.

The on-screen feature will give the voters the chance to see if their votes were correctly read by the VCMs, through a monitor on top of the machine.