Text and photos by TUDLA PRODUCTIONS
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Final testing and sealing in Precinct 246 in Cembo Elementary School on Monday was delayed when the PCOS machine could not print a complete Initialization report. The printout generated did not show the list of candidates and the vote counter that should show zero votes. The Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) are unable to troubleshoot the problem on their own and called for the assistance of the support technician. After more or less an hour, final testing and sealing proceeded with the assistance of the Smartmatic TIM technician.
To conduct the final testing and sealing, the BEI shall follow a protocol for the Final Testing and Sealing. For technical difficulties, they are to be assisted by a support technician assigned by PCOS contractor Smartmatic. There is only one Smartmatic technician assigned in each polling place.
In a big polling place like Cembo Elementary School, which has 27 clustered precincts and PCOS delivered to the polling place, having only one technician is a source of worry to the BEI and time delay to the conduct of the testing and sealing. Most BEI say they are still learning the process and that they had to learn to operate the machine on their own, while many have yet to fully grasp the protocol and the guidelines. (Bulatlat.com)
