Nothing to worry about fast vote transmission during Eleksyon 2022 –LENTE

The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) on Tuesday allayed fears of some voters regarding the fast vote transmission for the 2022 elections, saying it is "normal and not suspicious."

Asked during GMA News' Eleksyon 2022 special coverage if the transmission pace for the recently conducted polls was normal or unusual compared to the previous elections, LENTE executive director Atty. Rona Ann Caritos said, “‘Yan po ay normal kasi comparing to the 2019 and 2016, mabilis naman po talaga ang transmission na nakita natin.”

“‘Yan po ay dala ng improvements sa infrastructure ng ating internet sa bansa. ‘Yan po ay normal naman, hindi ‘yan kahina-hinala,” she added.

(That is normal because compared to 2019 and 2016, the transmission we saw this year is really fast. That is due to improvements in the internet infrastructure in the country. That is normal and not suspicious.)

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) also acknowledged the speed of the vote transmission, noting that it may be the fastest since the country has started conducting automated elections.

“It’s because of the improved and upgraded equipments and systems so as to prevent the 2019 scenario,” poll Commissioner George Garcia told reporters on Tuesday morning, referring to the seven-hour glitch that occurred in the 2019 elections.

Comelec acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco echoed this, saying that the Comelec has better transmission facilities, program, SD card quality, and trained poll workers and technicians in this year's elections.

As of 7:32 a.m. on Tuesday, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was still maintaining a huge lead among other candidates for president based on the partial and unofficial count with 30,467,076 votes.

Marcos’ running-mate, Davao City mayor Sara Duterte, was also leading the vice presidential race with 30,820,528 votes as of the same period.

A total of 53,960,994 votes out of the 67,442,616 registered voters have already come in as of posting. —KBK, GMA News