MANILA—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be conducting the Random Manual Audit (RMA) for the May 2016 polls in the municipal/city canvassing centers instead of the polling precincts.
Commissioner Luie Guia, head of the Comelec – RMA Committee (RMAC) noted that the decision to transfer the venue of the RMA aims to make the process more accessible and to ensure that it will be done in a more orderly manner.
He added that in previous elections, there were instances when the RMA teams had a hard time reaching the selected polling precincts.
“It causes delays because some RMA teams do not reach their destinations fast enough. Now, the vote counting machines (VCMs) and the ballot boxes will be the ones brought to them in the municipal level,” Guia explained.
A total of 715 clustered precincts are to be subjected to RMA, the number is higher compared to the 234 in 2013.
The poll body official added the RMA will begin as soon as voting results have already been transmitted and the election returns are already printed and after the VCMs and the ballot boxes have been brought to the municipal centers.
RMA is the process that will be used to determine if there is any difference between the automated and manual count of votes.
With this, Guia is optimistic that the RMA will be done within two weeks.
“If our process proves to be good, hopefully we can complete the process faster,” he added.
Section 29 of the Poll Automation law provides that “there shall be a random manual audit in one precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Commission.”