The Provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec) Office will be putting aside backup vote counting machines (VCM) which will be used should the primary machines break down during the May 9, 2016 local and national elections.

Malou Cempron, election assistant II of the Provincial Comelec Office, said that other than the 1546 VCMs which will be assigned to each precinct in the province, there will be a spare machine in each town which can be used should VCMs in precincts encounter glitches.

The VCMs along with official ballots and other election paraphernalia will be delivered to the province this week.

These will be stored at the 2Go warehouse in Tagbilaran City and will be tightly guarded by the police.

The Comelec has not disclosed however the exact number of emergency VCM units which will be used in Bohol in case of malfunctions.

Each clustered precinct in the province will have one primary VCM unit.

Ballot boxes with top covers and batteries for the VCMs are already stored in Bohol.

Board of election inspectors (BEI) have already undergone training but will still partake in refresher drills as vote receipts will now be issued during the elections.

On Thursday, April 28, 72 teachers were chosen and trained as members of the Random Manual Audit Team (RMAT) which is mandated by RA 9369 known as the Automated Election System Law to conduct a random manual audit in one clustered precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Comelec in each province and city.

The final testing and sealing of VCMs will be carried out by the Comelec simultaneously with the rest of the nation on May 6, 2016, three days before the polls. (with reports from Rey Tutas)