Comelec: Initial postelection audit shows ‘100-percent match’
The number of the voter verified paper audit trails (VVPATs), popularly known as voter receipts, whose quick-response (QR) codes were scanned by the National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) staff and volunteers, have so far matched the number of valid ballots fed to the automated counting machines (ACMs) during the May 12 polls.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco, citing initial results released on Thursday, said 94.55 percent of voter receipts’ QR codes scanned by Namfrel personnel in 52 of 55 selected clustered precincts recorded a “100-percent match” between the number of receipts and ballots.
The Comelec official, in his statement, hinted the likelihood the results from the scanned VVPATs would match the collated results from the paper and electronic election returns (ERs) from the precincts.
Duly scanned
“This means that all voter receipts in the 52 clustered precincts have been duly scanned with a 100-percent accuracy rate between the votes in the voter receipts as to that of the results reflected in the election returns,” Laudiangco said.
Namfrel, in its statement on May 16, said it was in still the process of tallying and auditing the election results from the scanned voter receipts.
The Namfrel personnel, using a downloadable app, were allowed by Comelec to scan the QR codes of the VVPATs in 55 selected clustered precincts throughout the country.
Laudiangco said the results from the remaining three precincts were not completed due to some missing voter receipts, which the electoral boards could not account for. The VVPATs may have either been misplaced or the voters did not deposit their VVPATs in the voter-receipt receptacle as required.
The QR code in the VVPats contained the votes cast by the voter, in encrypted form. The results from all the valid ballots are collated by the ACMs and an ER in paper and electronic forms were generated after voting hours.
One copy of the ER in paper was posted outside each precinct. Namfrel volunteers also scanned the QR codes on the paper ERs. The decrypted results from the scanned QR codes on the paper ERs and the VVPATs will be compared later to the counterpart electronic result received by the server assigned to Namfrel and also to the final, official results.
“The Comelec lauds the collaborative efforts exerted by Namfrel volunteers, election boards, and its officers in ensuring the completion and success of this undertaking,” Laudiangco said.
