Comelec urged to probe delays due to defective VCMs

Binay was able to vote around noon, a few hours after she went to the precinct early Monday morning. (File Photo: Nancy Binay/Facebook)

MANILA — Senator Nancy Binay on Monday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate delays in the voting during the mid-term polls due to defective vote counting machines (VCMs).

“As a member of the Oversight Committee, I call on Chairman Sheriff Abas, and the other commissioners of the Comelec to start collating and investigating why we are still having successive problems with our VCMs,” Binay told reporters after casting her vote in San Antonio National High School in Makati City.

“By this time, we should have been experts when it comes to automation, but the problem seems to keep on worsening,” she added.

Binay was able to vote around noon, a few hours after she went to the precinct early Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay said the number of rejected ballots due to the malfunctioning VCMs might affect the results of the election.

“It’s too alarming if there are large percentage of rejected ballots. Hopefully, it will not affect the results. I’m just hoping that the Comelec will become diligent,” said Binay, a reelectionist running against her brother, former Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr.

During Monday’s polls, the Binay patriarch, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, was initially not able to vote as his ballot was rejected despite feeding it eight times to the VCM.

He was eventually able to vote anew around 11 a.m. after he proceeded to the headquarters of the National Board of Canvassers at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City to report his rejected ballot.

A total of 400 to 600 out of the 85,000 vote counting machines in precincts nationwide encountered glitches as of Monday afternoon, compared to 188 defective VCMs during the 2016 elections, according to Comelec data.