The 1,546 vote counting machines (VCM’s) to be used in Bohol for the May 9, 2016 elections will undergo the final testing and sealing (FTS) to check if the machines will accurately record and count the votes of more than 798,768 Boholano registered voters.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Election Assistant ll Malou Cempron of the Provincial Comelec Office told DYRD Balita that the 1,546 VCM’s that were stored in a 2GO warehouse in Barangay Taloto, Tagbilaran City has been safely delivered under heavy security to the clustered precincts in the province.

The FTS of the VCM’s will be conducted by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in the municipal central schools before distribution to the 1,546 clustered precincts located in the 1,066 polling centers in the 1,109 barangays in Bohol.

In Tagbilaran City, the FTS will be conducted in the 83 clustered precincts located in 16 polling centers.

As mandated by COMELEC Resolution No. 10057, the BEI will open the sealed boxes containing the VCM and check the completeness of the VCM accompanying paraphernalia.

The BEI will check if the checklist of contents of the VCM box, power cord of the VCM, SD cards, ten FTS ballots and 8 rolls of thermal paper following are in the boxes. Personal Identification Nos. (PINS) to operate the VCM and digital signatures are also to be accounted for.

The voting machines will also be “re-zeroed” before being sealed anew.

The box shall also include 3 iButtons, USB modem with SIM cards (Globe, Smart and Sun), marking pens, cleaning sheets and sealing stickers.

Ten test ballots will be filled up and fed into the VCM’s by ten randomly selected voters among those present and walk through all the procedures to be performed during the actual polls.

After the FTS, the VCM’s will be opened again only on election day. (Chito Visarra with reports from Rey Tutas)