Comelec: All VCMs ready for 14 September BARMM polls

All vote-counting machines to be used in the 14 September Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections are working properly following final testing and sealing, the Commission on Elections said Sunday.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the final testing and sealing conducted Saturday covered machines already deployed to all 5,212 polling precincts in BARMM.

“Ito po ay naging napaka-successful,” Garcia said.

He said minor issues found during testing were immediately resolved, while machines that required replacement were promptly swapped out.

“‘Yun po talaga ang purpose ‘nung final testing and sealing upang makita ‘yung kahandaan lalong-lalo na ‘yung ating mga makina, mga baterya at iba pang mga gamit para sa darating na Lunes,” Garcia said.

Comelec will also deploy technical personnel to 1,186 polling centers on election day, while around 1,200 replacement machines are on standby across BARMM.

Garcia said he remains hopeful the elections will be peaceful.

He noted that only one election-related incident has been recorded in BARMM since May, the 15 August ambush on BARMM Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, who survived the attack.

“Ito ay pambihira una sa kasaysayan ng Bangsamoro,” Garcia said, noting that election periods in the region have historically seen multiple election-related incidents.