Voter education campaign for Eleksyon 2025 to start in December —Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to launch next month a massive voter education campaign to demonstrate the use of automated counting machines (ACMs) to stakeholders ahead of the 2025 midterm elections. 

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia on Wednesday said at least 2,000 ACMs were distributed to all barangays in the country in preparation for a roadshow caravan slated from December 2, 2024 to January 30, 2025. 

“Mula December 2 to January 30, pupunta ang local Comelec sa mga kababayan natin upang mai-demo, maipagamit sa kanila at sila mismo ma-experience ang mga makina at malaman nila paano ito magamit,” Garcia told reporters during the delivery of the last batch of ACMs at the Comelec warehouse in Biñan, Laguna. 

(Local Comelec officers will go to communities to demonstrate how the machines work.)

South Korean firm Miru Systems delivered a total of 9,860 ACMs to Comelec on November 27, completing the 110,620 ACMs required for the 2025 midterm elections. 

All ACMs and election peripherals are undergoing hardware acceptance tests (HAT) at the Comelec warehouse, where the machines' hardware components — including its battery mode operation, screen, printer, camera, scanner, audio, USB ports, LED sensors, external keypad, network, and HDMI — are being tested. 

A random 5% of each batch of deliveries will also undergo stress tests. 

“We are proud to have finished delivery of our new and more sophisticated machines, and will continue to work diligently with the Comelec as these machines undergo strict quality control and security tests,” Miru Systems VP Ken Cho said. 

In September, the Comelec said it was expecting Miru to finish the delivery of all ACMs by November, a month ahead of schedule as the firm earlier promised to complete the delivery of the machines in December.

The poll body early this year awarded to Miru the P17.99-billion contract for the procurement of a new automated election system for the 2025 elections. The contract covered ACMs and peripherals, including ballot boxes and laptops.

The contract has been questioned before the Supreme Court over alleged violations of the poll automation law. —KBK, GMA Integrated News