Packet data issues caused delay in running vote count —Comelec Commisioner Guia

Commission on Elections Commissioner Luie Tito Guia said Tuesday "packet data" issues caused the delay in the viewing of the running vote count shared by the media and other accredited organizations.

In a Facebook post, Guia said an inquiry “will have to be done formally, to get to the bottom of this.”

He explained the vote counting machine electronic results are transmitted simultaneously to:

• the City and Municipal Canvass Servers;
• the Transparency Server; and
• the Central Server of the Comelec.

He said the results that go to the City/Municipal Canvass Servers are the official results for all contested positions and are tabulated to determine election winners.

He added those that go to the Transparency Servers are unofficial results that are used for TV broadcast while the third electronic results are backups.

The Comelec official said the results have been successfully transmitted to the three servers, including the transparency server, that is why proclamations of winners in city and municipal election contests are happening in record time.

However, he said, “the results cannot be transferred to the laptops of the media entities for broadcast purposes because of  ‘packet data’ issues.”

“This is the reason why people cannot view and experience the running vote count that they were used to since the 2010,” he added.

This is despite the vote counting machine results which may have already been transmitted to the Transparency Server at the same rate as the transmission to the two other servers, which at 2 a.m., May 14, was at 90 percent.

“Now, the problem seems to have been fixed. An update of the running vote totals have been made as of 2 a.m.,” he said. —KG, GMA News