Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu receive ACMs for use in Monday’s elections

Personnel of Comelec-Mandaue delivered Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) to Cabancalan 1 Elementary School on Tuesday, May 6.| CDN Digital photo / Mary Rose Sagarino

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu -The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Mandaue City has completed the delivery of 271 Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) to the designated polling centers in preparation for the midterm elections on Monday.

The machines were distributed to 29 public schools across the city on Tuesday, May 6, that has a total of 271 classrooms set to serve as precincts in the May 12 elections.  Each precinct will get one ACM that will undergo final testing and sealing on Wednesday.

Jacqueline Reuyan, Election Assistant at Comelec Mandaue, said that in addition to the 271 ACMs, they also have 38 back-up machines that they could deploy in case one of the already deployed machines would malfunction on election day.

Also on Tuesday, Comelec’s logistics partner delivered the official ballots to the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) that is mandated to safeguard these together with other election materials such as the secrecy folders, thumbprint takers, and ballot boxes.

Uniformed policemen will be deployed to secure the storage area for the ballots and election paraphernalia that will be distributed shortly before the precincts open early on Monday morning.

Mandaue City has over 230,000 registered voters, and around 813 election personnel who are set to render service in Monday’s elections.

Lapu-Lapu’s ACMs

In Lapu-Lapu City, ACMs were also distributed to the different polling centers in the mainland and in Olango Island on Tuesday.

Lawyer Ann Janette Lamban, the city’s election officer, led the distribution of ACMs in Olango while Election Assistant Benjie Dayondon led the distribution in the mainland.

On the other hand, the delivery of the ACMs for the islet barangays of Caohagan, Caubian, and Pangan-an will be done on Wednesday morning.  The final testing and sealing of the machines is set at 1 p.m. of the same day.

The Mactan Elementary School received a total of 17 ACMs for its clustered precincts.  These were placed at the school’s designated storage area and secured by the police.