Looks like somebody’s not too fond of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.
“Sen. Koko Pimentel has urged the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to discard the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in favor of a newer technology for the 2016 presidential elections,” reports Newsbytes Philippines.
Pimentel, who’s the chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, is backing the plan to sell the old PCOS machines, which were used in the 2010 and 2013 elections.
Pimentel brought up the fact that “the PCOS machines failed the specified minimum accuracy rate of 99.995 percent or a maximum error rate of .005 percent when a series of tests was conducted to determine their accuracy, aside from technical glitches that marred their use during the midterm polls.”
On top of that, Pimentel noted that “some PCOS machines were found to be defective” and were found to be producing “black lines” on the ballots counted. The latter glitch was discovered during a random manual audit after the May 2013 polls.
The report revealed that the COMELEC is mulling the use of a new technology, called Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) which is akin to touchscreen technology where voters cast their votes by picking candidates from a touchscreen.”
Screengrab from Sen. Koko Pimentel’s Facebook page
