PRODUCTION of the new automated counting machines (ACMs) that will be used in next year's midterm elections has started at the winning bidder's plant in South Korea, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said on Tuesday that on the invitation of Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Senior Commissioner Marlos Casquejo and Commissioners Aimee Ferolino and Rey Bulay will fly to South Korea to observe the production of the initial batch of 20 ACMs.
Also going to Korea are election watchdog groups Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), and Participate PH.
Laudiangco said the walkthrough at Miru's production plant would be done on Friday, April 24.
Miru was the lone bidder for Comelec's FASTrAC or Fully Automated System, Transparent Audit and Count machine, an upgraded optical mark reader (OMR) paper-based automated elections system with direct recording electronic (DRE) capabilities.
In February, the poll body awarded Miru the P18-billion contract for the lease of 110,000 customized ACMs and other peripheral services that will be used in the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE). The contract was formally signed last month.
Aside from the 110,000 ACM, the contract also includes the provision of 104,345 ballot boxes, 2,200 CCS servers/laptops and printers, ballot printing, ballot paper for 73,881,894, and ballot verification that will be used in the 2025 midterm polls.
The new ACM will replace the more than 90,000 vote counting machines (VCM) that the Comelec used in the 2016, 2019, and 2022 elections. The VCMs are already considered obsolete by technology standards.
Under the approved terms of reference (TOR), the new FASTrAC system shall have the following features: precinct-based upgraded paper-based AES but with DRE capabilities, which still utilizes a paper ballot; election results shall be sent separately and directly from the ACM to the KBP, dominant majority party, dominant minority party and citizens arms; the ballot box shall include a separate box for the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or voter's receipts; requirements for faster scanning of ballot at the speed of at least 200 mm per second; higher resolution of ballot scanning, with a resolution of 300 dots per inch (DPI) and at least 8-bit JPEG image; larger size screen display of at least 132 inches diagonal and minimum screen feature; and after closing of polls, printing of election returns (ERs), and transmission of results, the ACM shall be able to allow transparency county off votes in the following manner: all ballot images (back and front) read to be displayed in the screen, one by one, and adding the votes obtained by each candidate after the display of each ballot image; and allow scanning of VVPAT QR code (winning bidder shall provide QR code scanner) one by one and displaying on the screen and adding the votes obtained by each candidate.
Laudiangco said the system has enough safeguards to prevent cyberattacks.
He also pointed out that the ACM is only enabled to transmit digital election results and is intentionally made to have 'no reception' capability, further reducing points of vulnerability.
'All these measures, which will similarly be implemented in the Transmission Services and the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS, Internet Voting), all add to the resilience and robustness of the whole Automated Elections System,' Laudingco said.