- The Comelec said that it will be needing 100,000 pairs of scissors in the upcoming polls
- Chairman Bautista said that scissors will help solve the frequent paper jams of VCMs
- A budget of P1.2 million was allotted by the agency for the purchase of scissors
In its bid to ensure the smooth flow of procedures during the local and national elections in May, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that it will be needing at least 100,000 pairs of scissors that will be used by the members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in the upcoming polls.
In an article written by Rose-An Jessica Dioquino for GMA News Online on March 19, it was disclosed that Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista hopes that the frequent paper jams experienced in the new vote counting machines (VCMs) when printing audit trail reports will be addressed using scissors.
“Naghahanap tayo ng mga paraan kung papaanong mababawasan ang mga risk na ito. So, ilan sa mga ginawa namin, ito nga, sa paper jam, nagsimula na rin kami ng bidding para sa gunting [We are looking for ways on how to mitigate these risks. So, some of the things that we did is this: for paper jams, we started the bidding process for scissors],” Bautista said.
The statement came after the Supreme Court junked the Comelec’s petition to keep the audit trail feature of the VCMs disabled as it might cause a major delay in the elections and increase instances of vote buying.
According to Theodore Te, chief of the high court’s Public Information Office (PIO), all the justices voted unanimously against the Comelec’s request; forcing the polling body to enable the feature.
As a workaround, the Comelec has decided to provide plastic receptacles in every precinct during the elections, wherein the voters will be required to drop their audit trail receipts before leaving the voting center.
A budget of P1.2 million (P12 per pair) has been allotted for the purchase of scissors while the amount of P27.7 million (P300 per unit) was reserved for the receptacles.
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