THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to conduct mock polls involving registered voters before 2021 ends to see how actual voters behave.
“We are tentatively scheduling mock elections for the end of December, the last week of December,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said, adding “the mock elections is for public coverage.”
Before the mock polls, he said there will be a separate field test to be done using the automated elections system (AES) that will be used in next year’s polls.
“The field test is to determine if the precincts and canvassed results can be electronically transmitted from the field to where it is supposed to go,” said Jimenez.
“That one is an internal test because it is all software. There is nothing to see (for the public),” he added.
Last month, the Comelec held a voting simulation activity at the San Juan Elementary School in San Juan City that sought to determine the average voting time frame in polling precincts, and look at ways to better decongest polling places and implement safety protocols.
The Comelec also reported that nearly all of the vote counting machines (VCMs), 96,981 or 99.6 percent, have been refurbished. Jimenez said 334 VCMs, or 0.3 percent, have been placed under quarantine.
Jimenez said the Comelec is still undergoing the procurement process for an additional 10,000 voting machines.
The poll body will also form various Campaign Committees that will closely monitor all in-person campaign activities for the May 2022 polls and ensure strict compliance to campaign rules as well as pandemic health protocols.
“We will create Comelec Campaign Committees at various levels. You have them at the national, regional, and then municipal,” Jimenez said, adding the foremost mandate of the committees is to classify category levels in every locality similar to the alert level system of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Jimenez said the alert level system will determine how many people would be allowed to attend campaign rallies and public gatherings.
Another mandate of the committees, he said, is the approval or denial of applications for the conduct of campaign activities in various areas. Jimenez said all candidates looking to conduct campaign rallies in a particular LGU must secure permits from the Comelec Campaign Committee.
He said CCCs will submit reports to the Commission on the conduct of campaign activities under their jurisdictions.
