The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will demonstrate how to vote using the new automated counting machines (ACM) in all Negros Island Region (NIR) local government units in December and January.
This will be part of the Comelec voters’ education campaign for the May 2025 midterm elections, NIR Elections Regional Director Lionel Marco Castillano said at a press conference at the provincial Capitol in Bacolod City on Saturday, Sept 14.
During the press conference a demonstration was conducted on how to use the new ACM as part of the “Full Automation System with Transparency and Audit/Count (FASTrAC)” in next year’s polls, Castillano said.
This new ACMs have better technology, operate faster and are more transparent, he said.
Voters will have the opportunity to read the names of the persons they voted for on the ACM screen, he added.
This time each NIR city and town will be provided with an ACM for the roadshow demonstration, Castillano said.
In the past only two counting machines were made available for every region, he said.
The NIR is composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
The Comelec will be conducting ACM demonstrations down to the barangays and for various sectors who are interested, he said.
The ACM has a 14-inch touchscreen, smart security card, sensor, scanner, printer, camera, universal serial bus ports, external keypad, a voter’s receipt receptacle and battery for brownouts, NIR Elections Assistant Director Dindo Maglasang said.
Each province will have repair hubs for any ACM problem during Election Day, Castillano said.*